Introduction
Gastric cancer is a global health problem with a high fatality rate
because it is frequently discovered at an advanced stage. It is also the
third most common cause of cancer-related death1.
Therefore, early identification and diagnosis are critical for the
treatment of stomach cancer. Currently, the methods often adopted for
the timely identification of stomach cancer have several flaws. For
example, tumor marker specificity and sensitivity are
insufficient2, 3, gastroscopy screening is difficult
to implement, and imaging examination plays a limited role in the
identification of early gastric cancer4. Therefore,
the discovery of novel markers with high specificity and sensitivity is
critical.
The centromere is a combination of DNA and proteins. Although DNA
sequences differ greatly among species, protein components are
relatively conserved5, 6. These highly conserved
proteins are called centromere-associated proteins
(CENPs)7. According to previous studies, CENPs affect
the normal separation of sister chromatids and maintain chromosome
stability, making them an important factor in the occurrence and
progression of tumors7-10. The constitutive
centromere-associated network (CCAN) comprises 16 centromere proteins
that can be divided into five functional complexes: CENPC, CENPL/N,
CENPH/I/K/M, CENPT/W/S/X, and CENPO/P/Q/R/U11, 12.
CCAN is essential for the separation of chromatids13,
14. CENPN interacts with CENPL to form a CENPL/N complex, which is
essential for CCAN protein assembly. Not only does it recognize CENPA
nucleosomes, but also recruits CENPH/I/K/M complexes. Furthermore,
CENPL/N can interact with CENPC, which is required for stabilization of
CENPC on kinetosomes15, 16.
CENPN is a member of the centromeric protein family that has been linked
to the occurrence and progression of glioma, liver cancer, and lung
cancer17-19. We used bioinformatics,
immunohistochemistry, and functional studies To investigate the
expression of CENPN in STAD and its effect on the proliferation, cell
cycle, and apoptosis of AGS cells.