Overexpression of NREP Promotes Migration and Invasion in Gastric Cancer Through Facilitating Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

The identification of biomarkers and effective therapeutic targets for gastric cancer (GC), the most common cause of cancer-related deaths around the world, is currently a major focus area in research. Here, we examined the utility of Neuronal Regeneration Related Protein (NREP) as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for GC. We assessed the clinical relevance, function, and molecular role of NREP in GC using bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation. Our results showed that in GC, NREP overexpression was significantly associated with a poor prognosis. Our findings also suggested that NREP may be involved in the activation of cancer-associated fibroblasts and the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), with transforming growth factor β1 mediating both processes. In addition, NREP expression showed a positive correlation with the abundance of M2 macrophages, which are potent immunosuppressors. Together, these results indicate that NREP is overexpressed in GC and affects GC prognosis. Thus, NREP could be a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for GC.