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.