# Aberrant KIF20A Expression Is Associated with Adverse Clinical Outcome and Promotes Tumor Progression in Prostate Cancer

Authors: Zheng Zhang; Ciman Chai; Tianyu Shen; Xiaoqing Li; Junpeng Ji; Changying Li; Zhiqun Shang; Yuanjie Niu
Journal: Disease Markers
 (2019)

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## Abstract

Purpose. KIF20A is essential in the process of spindle assembly and cytokinesis regulation. The role of KIF20A during tumorigenesis and tumor development has been well studied in several cancers. But the association between the KIF20A clinical role and prostate cancer (PCa) has not been reported yet. In this study, we investigated its potential prognostic effect and its role in progression of prostate cancer. Methods. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blots were used to investigate the KIF20A transcription and translation levels in 7 pairs of fresh PCa tissue and adjacent normal prostate tissue. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to investigate the KIF20A protein level in 114 PCa tissue samples. Bioinformatics analysis was performed to analyze the effect of KIF20A in oncologic prognosis in PCa patients. MTT assay, transwell assay, and colony formation assay in vitro and tumor formation assay in vivo were performed to evaluate the biological behavior of KIF20A in prostate cancer. Results. KIF20A was significantly elevated in tumor tissue compared with normal prostate tissue at both the mRNA and the protein level. High expression of KIF20A at the protein level was correlated with adverse clinicopathological features. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the high KIF20A expression group has a poor biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival. Knocking down KIF20A suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of the prostate cancer cell both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions. Our data demonstrated that the high expression of KIF20A was associated with poor clinical outcome and targeting KIF20A could reduce proliferation, migration, and invasion of the prostate cancer cell, indicating that KIF20A might be a potential prognostic and therapeutic target for PCa patients.


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## Body

## 1. Introduction

Prostate cancer is a common malignancy in middle-aged and elderly men in developed countries. In the 2018 cancer statistics, it is estimated that over 1.3 million new prostate cancer cases and 359,000 associated deaths occurred worldwide [1]. With the popularity of PSA screening and tissue biopsy, prostate cancer has become a common disease in China. Although PCa has an indolent feature, the incidence of PCa in urban areas has increased rapidly year by year and the mortality in rural areas is much higher than urban areas [2]. The standard therapy for PCa patients is surgery and radiation; Hamdy et al.’s study shows that about 8.4% of patients who received surgery or radiation have relapsed [3]. With the emergence of more and more molecular markers, the diagnostic stratification of PCa has become more precise [4]. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of PCa progression has not been fully understood. Therefore, further efforts to explore effective therapeutic targets that can optimize the PCa patient’s management are urgent [5–7].KIF20A, known as mitotic kinesin-like protein, is a member of the kinesin-6 family which participates in spindle assembly and interacts with mitotic regulators such as polo, Incenp, and sub during mitosis [8]. It is an essential factor in the chromosome passenger complex (CPC) relocation; the latter is a key player in cytokinesis [9]. Until now, KIF20A is proved to be a key point in the development and progression of many cancers, such as leukemia, ovarian cancer, glioma, non-small cell lung cancer, bladder cancer, gastric cancer, and pancreatic cancer [10–16]. Recently, Li et al. reported that KIF20A was obviously elevated in ovarian cancer promoting invasion and metastasis of the ovarian cancer cell line and conferring resistance to cisplatin [13]. Furthermore, KIF20A regulates cell protrusions through accumulation of IGF2BP3-containing stress granules [17]. Taken together, KIF20A may be an important factor in tumor cell proliferation and invasion. However, research of KIF20A’s potential roles on prostate cancer has been always been a blank. In our study, we explored the relationship between KIF20A and clinical outcome in PCa patients. With regard to that, we also used in vitro and in vivo experiments to demonstrate whether KIF20A regulated proliferation, migration, and invasion of prostate cancer cells.


## 2. Materials and Methods

### 2.1. Patient Information and Tissue Specimen

114 PCa patients were collected from the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University; all the patients had signed an informed consent form [18]. The tissue from these patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between July 2016 and October 2017 were paraffin-embedded for immunohistochemistry analysis. 7 samples of fresh prostate adenocarcinoma tissue and 7 samples of paired normal prostate tissue were used for Western blot analysis. All specimens underwent HE staining and were diagnosed as prostate adenocarcinoma by a primary pathologist and a senior pathologist from the Tianjin Institute of Urology. All patients did not receive adjuvant androgen deprivation treatment, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy before surgery. The relationship between KIF20A expression and clinical features are recorded in Table 1. The research involving human tissue was approved by the medical ethics committee of the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University.Table 1
Clinicopathological variables and KIF20A expression in 114 prostate cancer patients.
Variables
Alln=114
KIF20A
P value#
Lown=35
Highn=79
Age
<70
17
35
0.67
≥70
18
44
iPSA
>10
20
29
0.04∗
≤10
15
50
Tumor stage
T2
20
27
0.02∗
T3/T4
15
52
Gleason grade
≤7
22
25
<0.01∗
>7
13
54
Lymph node metastasis
No
18
30
0.18
Yes
17
49
Seminal vesicle metastasis
No
21
24
<0.01∗
Yes
14
55
#P value was analyzed by chi-squared test; ∗ indicates P<0.05 with statistical significance. iPSA: initial PSA.


### 2.2. Cell Lines

The human prostate cancer cell lines (22RV1, LNCaP, PC-3, and C4-2) were purchased from ATCC. All the cell lines were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium (Biological Industries, 01-101-1A, Israel) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Biological Industries, 04-001-1A, Israel) and 1% penicillin-streptomycin (Biological Industries, 03-031-1B, Israel) at 37°C with 5% CO2 incubator added.


### 2.3. Knockdown KIF20A by Transfecting Plasmid

To knock down KIF20A in PCa cells, C4-2 cells were seeded in six-well plates and then a prepared plasmid was added (OriGene, KIF20A human shRNA plasmid, TG311916, HuSH shRNA RFP Cloning Vector, TR30014, USA) that was mixed with a Transfection Reagent (Roche, 6365787001, Switzerland) for incubation for 48 h at 37°C, and then Western blot analysis was performed to verify the efficiency of KIF20A silencing.


### 2.4. Quantitative Real-Time PCR

To prevent RNA from undergoing fresh tissue degradation, the tissue samples were submerged in a RNA stabilization reagent (QIAGEN, 76106, Germany). Before extraction of RNA from the tissue, the tissue was ground into a homogenate with a grinding rod. Then, total RNA was isolated from the tissue samples and cell lines by using a TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, 15596018, USA) according to the instruction manual. RNase-free DNase was added to inhibit degradation. The qPCR primer sequences were displayed as follows: KIF20A forward primer: 5′-TCAGAGCGCTGCAAAGATCA-3′, KIF20A reverse primer: 5′-CGGTTCTGCTGGTTTTGACG-3′, GAPDH forward primer: 5′-TGCACCACCAACTGCTTAGC-3′, and GAPDH reverse primer: 5′-AGAGGCAGGGATGATGTTCTG-3′. The 2-ΔΔCt method was used to detect the relative quantitative value. Ct represents the threshold cycle for each transcript. All experiments were tested in triplicate.


### 2.5. Western Blotting

PBS was used to wash fresh tissue which was grounded into a homogenate, and then RIPA buffer was used to lyse them to obtain total protein. Protein concentrations were determined by the BCA assay (Solarbio, PC0020, China). Samples (30μg protein) were resolved on 8% SDS-PAGE gel and transferred to PVDF at 4°C. Membranes were blocked in fat-free milk combined with TBST for 1 hour at 25°C and immunoblotted with the appropriate diluted primary antibody KIF20A (Abcam, ab104118, UK; 1 : 1000 dilution for Western blot and 1 : 200 dilution for IHC-P), PCNA (Abcam, ab92552, UK; 1 : 1000 dilution for Western blot), Ki67 (Abcam, ab16667, UK; 1 : 1000 dilution for Western blot), MMP2 (Abcam, ab37150, UK; 1 : 500 dilution for Western blot), MMP9 (Abcam, ab76003, UK; 1 : 5000 dilution for Western blot), and GAPDH (SunGene Biotech, KM9002, China; 1 : 5000 dilution for Western blot) at 4°C overnight. Then, membranes were washed 10 minutes three times and incubated with the secondary antibody for 1 hour at 25°C. Finally, the blots were visualized by Imager.


### 2.6. MTT Assays

The results on whether shKIF20A affects the proliferation of PCa cells were measured by using MTT assays. Briefly,3×103 cells from the control group and the shKIF20A group were equally added into 96-well plates and cultured at 37°C for 48 hours. Then, the MTT (Solarbio, M8180, China) solutions were added into plates to incubate for 4 hours. After that, 200 μl DMSO (Solarbio, D8370, China) was added into the plates. The results were measured by using a microplate reader at 570 nm.


### 2.7. Transwell Assay

We used a transwell assay to evaluate the ability of cell migration and invasion. Briefly, for evaluating migration, C4-2 cells (5×103) and shKIF20A C4-2 cells (5×103) combined with a serum-free medium were seeded onto the upper chamber of transwell chambers (Corning, 353097, USA). The lower chamber was added with 500 μl 15% FBS culture medium. For evaluating invasion, Matrigel (Corning, 354230, USA) that was placed at 4°C overnight was combined with precooling RPMI 1640 medium, and then the admixture was added onto the upper chamber of transwell chambers and the lower chamber was added with 15% FBS culture medium. After 48 h incubation at 37°C, the cell migrated to the lower membrane of the chamber. 4% paraformaldehyde was used to fix the cells and crystal violet (Solarbio, 6250042, China) was used to stain the cells. Finally, we counted the cells by using a microscope. We analyzed 10 random field at 200x per well.


### 2.8. Immunohistochemistry

114 paraffin embedding samples from PCa patients were performed to assess the expression of KIF20A at the protein level. Briefly, all the samples were cut into 4μm sections. For dewaxing, the sections were baked at 75°C for 1 hour and immersed in xylene for 10 minutes twice. For hydration, the sections were immersed in different concentrations of alcohol for 5 minutes. Then, the sections soaked in citrate were baked in a medium-high fire gear for 7 minutes and baked in a medium-low fire gear for 15 minutes for antigen retrieval. 3% hydrogen peroxide was used to block peroxidase, and primary antibody was added on the sections for incubation overnight. On the second day, the sections were incubated with the secondary antibody (ZSGB-BIO, PV-6000, China) for one hour. Then, the sections were treated with streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase complex for coloration. Finally, the sections were counterstained with 10% Mayer’s hematoxylin (Solarbio, G1120, China) and dehydrated. The results were evaluated by two senior pathologists separately. The score of KIF20A expression at the protein level was classified semiquantitatively as follows: no staining: 0 points, weak staining: 1 point, moderate staining: 2 points, and strong staining: 3 points. The proportion of tumor cells was graded from 0 to 2: 0 points (<5%), 1 point (5%–50%), 2 points (>50%). The sum of scores represented the expression levels: 0~2 points as low expression and 3~4 points as high expression [18]. The mean score from two pathologists was used as the final immunostaining score.


### 2.9. Bioinformatics Analysis

Data for survival analysis were obtained from the TCGA database (including 498 PCa patients;http://www.cbioportal.org/study?id=prad_tcga#summary). The mRNA expression of the KIF20A was classified as low (n=246, in TCGA dataset) or high (n=246, in TCGA dataset) in relation to the median KIF20A mRNA expression as the cutoff point. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the correlation between the expression of KIF20A and the PCa patients’ biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival time.


### 2.10. Xenograft Mice Model

6- to 8-week-old male nude mice were purchased from the Beijing HFK Bioscience Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China).3×106 C4-2 cells transfected with a control or KIF20A plasmid were injected subcutaneously (each group was repeated three times). Then, we monitored the tumor size every three days. The formula V=1/2a×b2 was used for calculating the tumor volume (a represents length, b represents width). After 6 weeks, the mice were killed and the fresh tumor tissue samples were used for Western blot analysis and H&E analysis.


### 2.11. Statistical Analysis

SPSS 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was performed for statistical analysis. The chi-squared test was used to analyze the correlation between KIF20A expression and clinicopathological features. Two-sidedP value < 0.5 was considered to be statistically significant.


## 2.1. Patient Information and Tissue Specimen

114 PCa patients were collected from the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University; all the patients had signed an informed consent form [18]. The tissue from these patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between July 2016 and October 2017 were paraffin-embedded for immunohistochemistry analysis. 7 samples of fresh prostate adenocarcinoma tissue and 7 samples of paired normal prostate tissue were used for Western blot analysis. All specimens underwent HE staining and were diagnosed as prostate adenocarcinoma by a primary pathologist and a senior pathologist from the Tianjin Institute of Urology. All patients did not receive adjuvant androgen deprivation treatment, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy before surgery. The relationship between KIF20A expression and clinical features are recorded in Table 1. The research involving human tissue was approved by the medical ethics committee of the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University.Table 1
Clinicopathological variables and KIF20A expression in 114 prostate cancer patients.
Variables
Alln=114
KIF20A
P value#
Lown=35
Highn=79
Age
<70
17
35
0.67
≥70
18
44
iPSA
>10
20
29
0.04∗
≤10
15
50
Tumor stage
T2
20
27
0.02∗
T3/T4
15
52
Gleason grade
≤7
22
25
<0.01∗
>7
13
54
Lymph node metastasis
No
18
30
0.18
Yes
17
49
Seminal vesicle metastasis
No
21
24
<0.01∗
Yes
14
55
#P value was analyzed by chi-squared test; ∗ indicates P<0.05 with statistical significance. iPSA: initial PSA.


## 2.2. Cell Lines

The human prostate cancer cell lines (22RV1, LNCaP, PC-3, and C4-2) were purchased from ATCC. All the cell lines were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium (Biological Industries, 01-101-1A, Israel) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Biological Industries, 04-001-1A, Israel) and 1% penicillin-streptomycin (Biological Industries, 03-031-1B, Israel) at 37°C with 5% CO2 incubator added.


## 2.3. Knockdown KIF20A by Transfecting Plasmid

To knock down KIF20A in PCa cells, C4-2 cells were seeded in six-well plates and then a prepared plasmid was added (OriGene, KIF20A human shRNA plasmid, TG311916, HuSH shRNA RFP Cloning Vector, TR30014, USA) that was mixed with a Transfection Reagent (Roche, 6365787001, Switzerland) for incubation for 48 h at 37°C, and then Western blot analysis was performed to verify the efficiency of KIF20A silencing.


## 2.4. Quantitative Real-Time PCR

To prevent RNA from undergoing fresh tissue degradation, the tissue samples were submerged in a RNA stabilization reagent (QIAGEN, 76106, Germany). Before extraction of RNA from the tissue, the tissue was ground into a homogenate with a grinding rod. Then, total RNA was isolated from the tissue samples and cell lines by using a TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, 15596018, USA) according to the instruction manual. RNase-free DNase was added to inhibit degradation. The qPCR primer sequences were displayed as follows: KIF20A forward primer: 5′-TCAGAGCGCTGCAAAGATCA-3′, KIF20A reverse primer: 5′-CGGTTCTGCTGGTTTTGACG-3′, GAPDH forward primer: 5′-TGCACCACCAACTGCTTAGC-3′, and GAPDH reverse primer: 5′-AGAGGCAGGGATGATGTTCTG-3′. The 2-ΔΔCt method was used to detect the relative quantitative value. Ct represents the threshold cycle for each transcript. All experiments were tested in triplicate.


## 2.5. Western Blotting

PBS was used to wash fresh tissue which was grounded into a homogenate, and then RIPA buffer was used to lyse them to obtain total protein. Protein concentrations were determined by the BCA assay (Solarbio, PC0020, China). Samples (30μg protein) were resolved on 8% SDS-PAGE gel and transferred to PVDF at 4°C. Membranes were blocked in fat-free milk combined with TBST for 1 hour at 25°C and immunoblotted with the appropriate diluted primary antibody KIF20A (Abcam, ab104118, UK; 1 : 1000 dilution for Western blot and 1 : 200 dilution for IHC-P), PCNA (Abcam, ab92552, UK; 1 : 1000 dilution for Western blot), Ki67 (Abcam, ab16667, UK; 1 : 1000 dilution for Western blot), MMP2 (Abcam, ab37150, UK; 1 : 500 dilution for Western blot), MMP9 (Abcam, ab76003, UK; 1 : 5000 dilution for Western blot), and GAPDH (SunGene Biotech, KM9002, China; 1 : 5000 dilution for Western blot) at 4°C overnight. Then, membranes were washed 10 minutes three times and incubated with the secondary antibody for 1 hour at 25°C. Finally, the blots were visualized by Imager.


## 2.6. MTT Assays

The results on whether shKIF20A affects the proliferation of PCa cells were measured by using MTT assays. Briefly,3×103 cells from the control group and the shKIF20A group were equally added into 96-well plates and cultured at 37°C for 48 hours. Then, the MTT (Solarbio, M8180, China) solutions were added into plates to incubate for 4 hours. After that, 200 μl DMSO (Solarbio, D8370, China) was added into the plates. The results were measured by using a microplate reader at 570 nm.


## 2.7. Transwell Assay

We used a transwell assay to evaluate the ability of cell migration and invasion. Briefly, for evaluating migration, C4-2 cells (5×103) and shKIF20A C4-2 cells (5×103) combined with a serum-free medium were seeded onto the upper chamber of transwell chambers (Corning, 353097, USA). The lower chamber was added with 500 μl 15% FBS culture medium. For evaluating invasion, Matrigel (Corning, 354230, USA) that was placed at 4°C overnight was combined with precooling RPMI 1640 medium, and then the admixture was added onto the upper chamber of transwell chambers and the lower chamber was added with 15% FBS culture medium. After 48 h incubation at 37°C, the cell migrated to the lower membrane of the chamber. 4% paraformaldehyde was used to fix the cells and crystal violet (Solarbio, 6250042, China) was used to stain the cells. Finally, we counted the cells by using a microscope. We analyzed 10 random field at 200x per well.


## 2.8. Immunohistochemistry

114 paraffin embedding samples from PCa patients were performed to assess the expression of KIF20A at the protein level. Briefly, all the samples were cut into 4μm sections. For dewaxing, the sections were baked at 75°C for 1 hour and immersed in xylene for 10 minutes twice. For hydration, the sections were immersed in different concentrations of alcohol for 5 minutes. Then, the sections soaked in citrate were baked in a medium-high fire gear for 7 minutes and baked in a medium-low fire gear for 15 minutes for antigen retrieval. 3% hydrogen peroxide was used to block peroxidase, and primary antibody was added on the sections for incubation overnight. On the second day, the sections were incubated with the secondary antibody (ZSGB-BIO, PV-6000, China) for one hour. Then, the sections were treated with streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase complex for coloration. Finally, the sections were counterstained with 10% Mayer’s hematoxylin (Solarbio, G1120, China) and dehydrated. The results were evaluated by two senior pathologists separately. The score of KIF20A expression at the protein level was classified semiquantitatively as follows: no staining: 0 points, weak staining: 1 point, moderate staining: 2 points, and strong staining: 3 points. The proportion of tumor cells was graded from 0 to 2: 0 points (<5%), 1 point (5%–50%), 2 points (>50%). The sum of scores represented the expression levels: 0~2 points as low expression and 3~4 points as high expression [18]. The mean score from two pathologists was used as the final immunostaining score.


## 2.9. Bioinformatics Analysis

Data for survival analysis were obtained from the TCGA database (including 498 PCa patients;http://www.cbioportal.org/study?id=prad_tcga#summary). The mRNA expression of the KIF20A was classified as low (n=246, in TCGA dataset) or high (n=246, in TCGA dataset) in relation to the median KIF20A mRNA expression as the cutoff point. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the correlation between the expression of KIF20A and the PCa patients’ biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival time.


## 2.10. Xenograft Mice Model

6- to 8-week-old male nude mice were purchased from the Beijing HFK Bioscience Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China).3×106 C4-2 cells transfected with a control or KIF20A plasmid were injected subcutaneously (each group was repeated three times). Then, we monitored the tumor size every three days. The formula V=1/2a×b2 was used for calculating the tumor volume (a represents length, b represents width). After 6 weeks, the mice were killed and the fresh tumor tissue samples were used for Western blot analysis and H&E analysis.


## 2.11. Statistical Analysis

SPSS 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was performed for statistical analysis. The chi-squared test was used to analyze the correlation between KIF20A expression and clinicopathological features. Two-sidedP value < 0.5 was considered to be statistically significant.


## 3. Results

### 3.1. KIF20A Was Overexpressed in PCa Tissues compared with Normal Prostate Tissues

The transcription and translation levels of the KIF20A expression in 7 samples of paired PCa tissue and normal tissue were examined. As shown in Figure1(a), the KIF20A mRNA level expression was significantly upregulated in the PCa tissue by using qPCR. The KIF20A protein level expression was also upregulated in 5 of 7 PCa tissue samples compared with normal tissue samples by using Western blotting (Figure 1(b)). These results shows that KIF20A was overexpressed in PCa tissue.Figure 1
KIF20A expression in prostate cancer and biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival for PCa patients according to the KIF20A expression. (a) The expression of KIF20A at the mRNA level in 7 PCa patients by qPCR. (b) The expression of KIF20A at the protein level in 7 PCa patients by Western blotting. (c) Immunoreactive KIF20A expression in 114 PCa patients (tumor vs. paracancerous tissues; paraffin section). (d) BCR-free survival in PCa patients according to the KIF20A expression from the TCGA dataset. Blue line indicates low KIF20A expression (n=298). Red line indicates high KIF20A expression (n=298). Patients with high KIF20A expression showed significantly poorer BCR-free survival. Data represent mean±SD. ∗P<0.05, ∗∗P<0.01, and ∗∗∗P<0.001.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)


### 3.2. The Correlation between Expression of KIF20A and Clinical Features of PCa Patients

To further verify the overexpression of KIF20A in PCa tissues, immunohistochemical staining was performed to examine the expression of KIF20A in 114 PCa tissue samples at the protein level and then to analyze the correlation between the KIF20A expression and the clinicopathological features. Of the 114 PCa tissue samples, 79 cases had a strong KIF20A expression and 35 cases had a weak or negative KIF20A expression. The KIF20A was hardly expressed in normal prostate tissue. These results were consistent with the results of Western blotting as previously described. As shown in Figure1(c), KIF20A was mostly distributed in the cytoplasm of cells. According to the immunohistochemical staining score, the PCa patients were divided into a low group and a high group. Based on patient data from our clinical specimens, we found that a high KIF20A expression was related with a higher preoperative PSA level (P=0.04), clinical T stage (P=0.02), Gleason score (P<0.01), and vesicle invasion (P<0.01). However, no significant correlation was found between the KIF20A expression and age (P=0.67) or lymph node metastasis (P=0.18). The results are shown in Table 1.


### 3.3. High KIF20A Expression Was Related to Poor Prognosis in PCa Patients

To evaluate whether the KIF20A expression level is a prognosis factor of biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival after radical prostatectomy, the PCa patients from the TCGA database were divided into high and low KIF20A groups. Kaplan-Meier methods were performed between the high or low KIF20A expression and BCR-free survival. Compared with the low expression group, the high KIF20A group has a shorter BCR-free time (P=0.007; Figure 1(d)). Univariate analysis found that the Gleason score (P<0.001; Table 2), pathological T stage (P<0.01; Table 2), and KIF20A expression (P<0.001; Table 2) were associated with poor prognosis. In multivariate analysis, only the Gleason score (P<0.001; Table 2) was the independent prognostic factor for BCR-free survival.Table 2
Prognostic value of KIF20A for the BCR-free survival via Cox proportional hazard model.
Covariant
Univariate analysis
Multivariate analysis
Exp(B)
95% CI
P value#
Exp(B)
95% CI
P value
KIF20A
1.80
1.17-2.77
0.007∗
1.02
0.98-2.56
0.93
Age
1.03
1.00-1.06
0.10
1.00
0.98-1.04
0.67
Gleason
2.20
1.76-2.72
<0.001∗
1.97
1.54-2.51
<0.001∗
pT-stage
2.62
1.72-4.15
<0.001∗
1.59
0.98-2.56
0.06
#P value was analyzed by chi-squared test; ∗ indicates P<0.05 with statistical significance.


### 3.4. Knockdown KIF20A Inhibits Prostate Cancer Cell Proliferation In Vitro

Firstly, we detected KIF20A expression at the protein level in four common PCa cell lines: LNCaP, PC-3, C4-2, and 22RV1. As shown in Figure2(a), compared with the other three cell lines, the C4-2 cell line has the highest expression level of KIF20A. So we chose the C4-2 cell for subsequent cell experiments to examine whether KIF20A was correlated with proliferation- and invasion-facilitating effects in vitro. C4-2 cells were successfully transfected with plasmid, and the KIF20A knockdown efficiency was verified by Western blotting (Figure 2(b)). Knockdown of KIF20A significantly reduced the proliferation of C4-2 cells as shown in Figure 2(c) (P<0.05). At the same time, the colony formation experiment further proved that knockdown of KIF20A can inhibit the proliferation of C4-2 cells (Figure 2(d)). Western blotting results showed that knockdown of KIF20A caused a decrease in the expression of proliferation markers Ki67 and PCNA (Figure 2(f)). These results showed that KIF20A could promote the proliferation of PCa cells.Figure 2
KIF20A can regulate the proliferation, migration, and invasion of prostate cancer cells. (a) Expression of KIF20A in different PCa cell lines. (b) KIF20A knockdown was performed in the C4-2 cell line; the efficiency of the plasmid was verified by Western blotting. (c) MTT assay was performed to evaluate proliferation in the C4-2 cell line transfected with shKIF20A plasmid. (d) Colony formation assay in the C4-2 cell line transfected with shKIF20A plasmid. (e) Transwell assay was performed to evaluate migration and invasion of the C4-2 cell line transfected with shKIF20A plasmid. (f) Effect of knocking down KIF20A on the expression of proliferation markers (Ki67, PCNA) by Western blotting. (g) Effect of knocking down KIF20A on the expression of metastasis markers (MMP2, MMP9) by Western blotting. Data representmean±SD. ∗P<0.05, ∗∗P<0.01, and ∗∗∗P<0.001.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)


### 3.5. Knockdown KIF20A Inhibits Prostate Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion In Vitro

As shown in Figure2(e), the cell migration assay showed that C4-2 cells transfected with the shKIF20A plasmid significantly inhibited migration. The cell invasion assay was performed to evaluate the invasive ability of C4-2 cells. As shown in Figure 2(e), the results showed that normal C4-2 cells have a stronger ability to dissolve Matrigel. Since tumor cells dissolve Matrigel by secreting matrix metalloproteinases, we used the Western blotting assay and found that knocking down KIF20A can decrease the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in C4-2 cells (Figure 2(g)). This data shows that KIF20A affected C4-2 cell migration and invasion.


### 3.6. KIF20A Can Promote Tumor Growth In Vivo

In order to verify whether KIF20A can affect tumor growth in vivo, C4-2 cells knocking down KIF20A were injected subcutaneously into the groin area of nude mice. Tumor size was observed every three days, and the mice were sacrificed and tumors collected 35 days later. The removed tumor was weighed. The weight of the tumors in the nude mice knocking down KIF20A group was also significantly reduced (Figure3(a)). As shown in Figure 3(b), after knocking down KIF20A, the tumor growth rate was significantly slower than that of the control group. In addition, we confirmed that the expression of KIF20A in the shKIF20A group was significantly decreased by Western blot (Figure 3(c)). And the proliferating markers KI67 and PCNA were significantly downregulated in the shKIF20A group (Figure 3(c)). These data showed that KIF20A could promote prostate cancer tumor growth. Interestingly, we also found that the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 KIF20A was reduced in the shKIF20A group (Figure 3(c)). Hence, KIF20A may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of prostate cancer.Figure 3
Knocking down KIF20A inhibits tumor growth in the xenograft mouse model. C4-2 cells transfected with the shKIF20A plasmid were injected into nude mice subcutaneously. (a) The image and weight of the tumor that was stripped after 35 days. (b) The growth curve of tumors is presented. Tumors were measured every week. (c) Western blotting analysis of the expression of Ki67, PCNA, MMP2, and MMP9 in the shKIF20A group compared with the shCON group. Data representmean±SD. ∗P<0.05, ∗∗P<0.01, and ∗∗∗P<0.001.
(a)
(b)
(c)


## 3.1. KIF20A Was Overexpressed in PCa Tissues compared with Normal Prostate Tissues

The transcription and translation levels of the KIF20A expression in 7 samples of paired PCa tissue and normal tissue were examined. As shown in Figure1(a), the KIF20A mRNA level expression was significantly upregulated in the PCa tissue by using qPCR. The KIF20A protein level expression was also upregulated in 5 of 7 PCa tissue samples compared with normal tissue samples by using Western blotting (Figure 1(b)). These results shows that KIF20A was overexpressed in PCa tissue.Figure 1
KIF20A expression in prostate cancer and biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival for PCa patients according to the KIF20A expression. (a) The expression of KIF20A at the mRNA level in 7 PCa patients by qPCR. (b) The expression of KIF20A at the protein level in 7 PCa patients by Western blotting. (c) Immunoreactive KIF20A expression in 114 PCa patients (tumor vs. paracancerous tissues; paraffin section). (d) BCR-free survival in PCa patients according to the KIF20A expression from the TCGA dataset. Blue line indicates low KIF20A expression (n=298). Red line indicates high KIF20A expression (n=298). Patients with high KIF20A expression showed significantly poorer BCR-free survival. Data represent mean±SD. ∗P<0.05, ∗∗P<0.01, and ∗∗∗P<0.001.
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## 3.2. The Correlation between Expression of KIF20A and Clinical Features of PCa Patients

To further verify the overexpression of KIF20A in PCa tissues, immunohistochemical staining was performed to examine the expression of KIF20A in 114 PCa tissue samples at the protein level and then to analyze the correlation between the KIF20A expression and the clinicopathological features. Of the 114 PCa tissue samples, 79 cases had a strong KIF20A expression and 35 cases had a weak or negative KIF20A expression. The KIF20A was hardly expressed in normal prostate tissue. These results were consistent with the results of Western blotting as previously described. As shown in Figure1(c), KIF20A was mostly distributed in the cytoplasm of cells. According to the immunohistochemical staining score, the PCa patients were divided into a low group and a high group. Based on patient data from our clinical specimens, we found that a high KIF20A expression was related with a higher preoperative PSA level (P=0.04), clinical T stage (P=0.02), Gleason score (P<0.01), and vesicle invasion (P<0.01). However, no significant correlation was found between the KIF20A expression and age (P=0.67) or lymph node metastasis (P=0.18). The results are shown in Table 1.


## 3.3. High KIF20A Expression Was Related to Poor Prognosis in PCa Patients

To evaluate whether the KIF20A expression level is a prognosis factor of biochemical recurrence- (BCR-) free survival after radical prostatectomy, the PCa patients from the TCGA database were divided into high and low KIF20A groups. Kaplan-Meier methods were performed between the high or low KIF20A expression and BCR-free survival. Compared with the low expression group, the high KIF20A group has a shorter BCR-free time (P=0.007; Figure 1(d)). Univariate analysis found that the Gleason score (P<0.001; Table 2), pathological T stage (P<0.01; Table 2), and KIF20A expression (P<0.001; Table 2) were associated with poor prognosis. In multivariate analysis, only the Gleason score (P<0.001; Table 2) was the independent prognostic factor for BCR-free survival.Table 2
Prognostic value of KIF20A for the BCR-free survival via Cox proportional hazard model.
Covariant
Univariate analysis
Multivariate analysis
Exp(B)
95% CI
P value#
Exp(B)
95% CI
P value
KIF20A
1.80
1.17-2.77
0.007∗
1.02
0.98-2.56
0.93
Age
1.03
1.00-1.06
0.10
1.00
0.98-1.04
0.67
Gleason
2.20
1.76-2.72
<0.001∗
1.97
1.54-2.51
<0.001∗
pT-stage
2.62
1.72-4.15
<0.001∗
1.59
0.98-2.56
0.06
#P value was analyzed by chi-squared test; ∗ indicates P<0.05 with statistical significance.


## 3.4. Knockdown KIF20A Inhibits Prostate Cancer Cell Proliferation In Vitro

Firstly, we detected KIF20A expression at the protein level in four common PCa cell lines: LNCaP, PC-3, C4-2, and 22RV1. As shown in Figure2(a), compared with the other three cell lines, the C4-2 cell line has the highest expression level of KIF20A. So we chose the C4-2 cell for subsequent cell experiments to examine whether KIF20A was correlated with proliferation- and invasion-facilitating effects in vitro. C4-2 cells were successfully transfected with plasmid, and the KIF20A knockdown efficiency was verified by Western blotting (Figure 2(b)). Knockdown of KIF20A significantly reduced the proliferation of C4-2 cells as shown in Figure 2(c) (P<0.05). At the same time, the colony formation experiment further proved that knockdown of KIF20A can inhibit the proliferation of C4-2 cells (Figure 2(d)). Western blotting results showed that knockdown of KIF20A caused a decrease in the expression of proliferation markers Ki67 and PCNA (Figure 2(f)). These results showed that KIF20A could promote the proliferation of PCa cells.Figure 2
KIF20A can regulate the proliferation, migration, and invasion of prostate cancer cells. (a) Expression of KIF20A in different PCa cell lines. (b) KIF20A knockdown was performed in the C4-2 cell line; the efficiency of the plasmid was verified by Western blotting. (c) MTT assay was performed to evaluate proliferation in the C4-2 cell line transfected with shKIF20A plasmid. (d) Colony formation assay in the C4-2 cell line transfected with shKIF20A plasmid. (e) Transwell assay was performed to evaluate migration and invasion of the C4-2 cell line transfected with shKIF20A plasmid. (f) Effect of knocking down KIF20A on the expression of proliferation markers (Ki67, PCNA) by Western blotting. (g) Effect of knocking down KIF20A on the expression of metastasis markers (MMP2, MMP9) by Western blotting. Data representmean±SD. ∗P<0.05, ∗∗P<0.01, and ∗∗∗P<0.001.
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## 3.5. Knockdown KIF20A Inhibits Prostate Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion In Vitro

As shown in Figure2(e), the cell migration assay showed that C4-2 cells transfected with the shKIF20A plasmid significantly inhibited migration. The cell invasion assay was performed to evaluate the invasive ability of C4-2 cells. As shown in Figure 2(e), the results showed that normal C4-2 cells have a stronger ability to dissolve Matrigel. Since tumor cells dissolve Matrigel by secreting matrix metalloproteinases, we used the Western blotting assay and found that knocking down KIF20A can decrease the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in C4-2 cells (Figure 2(g)). This data shows that KIF20A affected C4-2 cell migration and invasion.


## 3.6. KIF20A Can Promote Tumor Growth In Vivo

In order to verify whether KIF20A can affect tumor growth in vivo, C4-2 cells knocking down KIF20A were injected subcutaneously into the groin area of nude mice. Tumor size was observed every three days, and the mice were sacrificed and tumors collected 35 days later. The removed tumor was weighed. The weight of the tumors in the nude mice knocking down KIF20A group was also significantly reduced (Figure3(a)). As shown in Figure 3(b), after knocking down KIF20A, the tumor growth rate was significantly slower than that of the control group. In addition, we confirmed that the expression of KIF20A in the shKIF20A group was significantly decreased by Western blot (Figure 3(c)). And the proliferating markers KI67 and PCNA were significantly downregulated in the shKIF20A group (Figure 3(c)). These data showed that KIF20A could promote prostate cancer tumor growth. Interestingly, we also found that the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 KIF20A was reduced in the shKIF20A group (Figure 3(c)). Hence, KIF20A may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of prostate cancer.Figure 3
Knocking down KIF20A inhibits tumor growth in the xenograft mouse model. C4-2 cells transfected with the shKIF20A plasmid were injected into nude mice subcutaneously. (a) The image and weight of the tumor that was stripped after 35 days. (b) The growth curve of tumors is presented. Tumors were measured every week. (c) Western blotting analysis of the expression of Ki67, PCNA, MMP2, and MMP9 in the shKIF20A group compared with the shCON group. Data representmean±SD. ∗P<0.05, ∗∗P<0.01, and ∗∗∗P<0.001.
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## 4. Discussion

With the popularity of early PSA screening and the development of magnetic resonance imaging and prostate biopsy, there has been a trend wherein the incidence rate and morality increased rapidly in China in recent years [19]. For localized prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy is one of its common standard treatments. Although with the continuous updating of surgical techniques and the use of the Da Vinci robot platform, 20% to 30% of prostate cancer patients have found tumor biochemical recurrence by regularly detecting PSA levels [20, 21]. For recurrent prostate cancer and locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the first line therapy. Inevitably, after 3 to 5 years of ADT treatment, 23.5% patients will develop castration-resistant prostate cancer [22]. The emergence of the new antiandrogen drugs abiraterone and enzalutamide had improved the survival rate of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer to a certain extent, but when patients with circulating tumor cells contain AR-V7, the patients started to develop resistance to these drugs [23]. For this reason, there is an urgent need to identify novel key molecular targets during cancer progression and develop a new targeted drug to gain a better survival for PCa patients [6].KIF20A is a member of the kinesin family protein which is located in the Golgi apparatus and participates in the dynamics of organelle and cell division [24, 25]. To date, KIF20A has been found to be highly expressed in various tumors such as cervical squamous cell carcinoma, ovarian clear-cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, gastric cancer, bladder cancer, and glioma [10, 15, 16, 26–28]. With regard to that, further studies have confirmed that high expression of KIF20A is strongly associated with aggressive phenotypes of cancer. However, the role of KIF20A in the development and progression of prostate cancer is unclear. Can KIF20A be a potential target for prostate cancer? Our studies have demonstrated that KIF20A is abnormally highly expressed in prostate cancer tissues and is associated with adverse prognosis of PCa patients and knockdown of KIF20A can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of prostate cancer cells. To our knowledge, this is the first time to explore the role of KIF20A in prostate cancer.Interestingly, our results are similar to previous studies, in which KIF20A may be a key molecule influencing cancer development. Zhang et al. [28] demonstrated that KIF20A may be a potential target for cervical squamous cell carcinoma treatment as it was highly expressed in early-stage cervical squamous cell carcinoma by immunohistochemical analysis and associated with poor prognosis. In the latest published study on biomarkers of prostate cancer, hub genes such as KIF20A and CDCA8 are associated with adverse BCR-free survival of PCa patients and have better specificity and sensitivity in the diagnosis of prostate cancer [29]. Similarly, we found that KIF20A is highly expressed in prostate cancer by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, and bioinformatics analysis found that high expression of KIF20A is associated with biochemical recurrence in PCa patients. In Li et al.’s study [13], she confirmed that highly expressed KIF20A can facilitate invasion and metastasis of epithelial ovarian cancer cells and also increase ovarian cancer resistance to cisplatin. In our study, transwell experiments also found that knockdown of KIF20A significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells. Duan et al. [10] proved that KIF20A was related with proliferation and invasion in glioma cell lines. In addition, they found that KIF20A might play a key role in the chemotherapy resistance of gliomas. Our study also found that KIF20A might promote proliferation and invasion of PCa cells by MTT assay, colony formation assay, and transwell assay. More importantly, we have demonstrated that knockdown of KIF20A can inhibit the growth of prostate tumors in vivo. A phase I/II clinical trial conducted by Asahara et al. uses an epitope peptide derived from KIF20A to treat metastatic pancreatic cancer patients who were resistant to gemcitabine-based therapy [30]. In relation to that, Tomita et al. [31] used long peptides derived from tumor-associated antigen KIF20A to activate CD4+ T cells and CTL cells in head and neck malignant tumor patients. In summary, KIF20A may be used as a tumor antigen or a potential drug target to improve the survival rate of prostate cancer patients in immunotherapy and precision treatment.However, there are some limitations in our study. Firstly, due to the short follow-up time, we did not analyze the BCR-free survival in PCa patients from our institution. Therefore, in the future study, we will perform a long-term follow-up to confirm these conclusions. Secondly, although we confirmed that KIF20A can promote the migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells in vitro, we did not further confirm at the in vivo level. So an in vivo experiment will be performed to verify our hypothesis.


## 5. Conclusion

In conclusion, our study demonstrates for the first time that KIF20A is highly expressed in prostate cancer and is associated with poor prognosis. At the same time, we have demonstrated that KIF20A can promote the proliferation and invasion of prostate cancer cells in vitro and promote tumor growth by using the xenograft model. However, further studies to investigate the underlying mechanisms of KIF20A-mediated carcinogenesis and cancer progression in PCa are needed.



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*Source: 4782730-2019-09-03.xml*