Background: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most frequent type of kidney cancer. Nck-associated protein 1 (NCKAP1) is associated with poor prognosis and tumor progression in several cancer types, but the function and prognostic value of NCKAP1 in ccRCC remain poorly understood.

Methods: Using the Ualcan database, we evaluated the correlation between NCKAP1 expression and clinical features of ccRCC. These data were validated by immunohistochemical staining for NCKAP1 in a cohort of ccRCC patients. We assessed the prognostic value of NCKAP1 using GEPIA2 survival analysis. NCKAP1 function was characterized in vitro and in vivo using NCKAP1-overexpression ACHN cell lines. The LinkedOmics and GSCALite databases were used to investigate identify potential NCKAP1-targeted medicines that may play a role in the treatment of ccRCC. The impact of NCKAP1 expression on immune infiltration was also evaluated.

Results: NCKAP1 was significantly downregulated in ccRCC and correlated with advanced clinicopathological features and poor prognosis. Overexpression of NCKAP1 in ACHN cells reduced proliferation, invasion and migration capacity in vitro and inhibited tumor growth in vivo. According to the LinkedOmics, GSCALite and TIMER databases, NCKAP1 and related genes function primarily in ribosomal signaling, oxidative phosphorylation, TGF-β, and EMT-related signaling pathways. NCKAP1 was also shown to positively correlate with immune cell types, biomarkers, and immune checkpoints in ccRCCs.

Conclusions: NCKAP1 may play a vital tumor-suppressive role in ccRCC and is potentially a useful prognostic biomarker.

Background: It has been reported that thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) was up-regulated in multiple malignancies and participated in the regulation of tumor malignant behavior. However, its specific role in prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear.

Methods: TK1 expression in PCa patients and cell lines was identified via crossover analysis of the public datasets. A series of in vitro experiments and in vivo models was applied to investigate the function of TK1 in PCa. Functional enrichment analyses were further conducted to explore the underlying mechanism. Additionally, TISIDB was applied to explore the correlation between TK1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, immune subtypes, and immune regulatory factors.

Results: TK1 expression was significantly up-regulated in PCa patients and cell lines. TK1 ablation inhibited tumor cell proliferation and migration potential, and in vivo experiments showed that TK1 inactivation can significantly restrain tumor growth. Functional enrichment analysis revealed TK1-related hub genes (AURKB, CCNB2, CDC20, CDCA5, CDK1, CENPA, CENPM, KIF2C, NDC80, NUF2, PLK1, SKA1, SPC25, ZWINT), and found that TK1 was closely involved in the regulation of cell cycle. Moreover, elevated mRNA expression of TK1 was related with higher Gleason score, higher clinical stage, higher pathological stage, higher lymph node stage, shorter overall survival, and DFS in PCa patients. Particularly, TK1 represented attenuated expression in C3 PCa and was related with infiltration of CD4⁺, CD8⁺ T cells, and dendritic cells as well as immunomodulator expression.

Conclusion: Our study indicates that TK1 is a prognostic predictor correlated with poor outcomes of PCa patients, and for the first time represented that TK1 can promote the progression of PCa. Therefore, TK1 may be a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, as well as a therapeutic target for PCa.