Enhanced expression of centromere protein F predicts clinical progression and prognosis in patients with prostate cancer

Centromere protein F (CENPF) is a protein associated with the centromere-kinetochore complex and chromosomal segregation during mitosis. Previous studies have demonstrated that the upregulation of CENPF may be used as a proliferation marker of malignant cell growth in tumors. The overexpression of CENPF has also been reported to be associated with a poor prognosis in human cancers. However, the clinical significance of CENPF in prostate cancer (PCa) has not yet been fully elucidated. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine the association of CENPF with tumor progression and prognosis in patients with PCa. The expression of CENPF at the protein level in human PCa and non-cancerous prostate tissues was detected by immunohistochemical analysis, which was further validated using a microarray-based dataset (NCBI GEO accession no: GSE21032) at the mRNA level. Subsequently, the association of CENPF expression with the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients with PCa was statistically analyzed. Immunohistochemistry and dataset analysis revealed that CENPF expression was significantly increased in the PCa tissues compared with the non-cancerous prostate tissues [immunoreactivity score (IRS): PCa, 177.98 +/- 94.096 vs. benign, 121.30 +/- 89.596, P < 0.001; mRNA expression in the dataset: PCa, 5.67 +/- 0.47 vs. benign, 5.40 +/- 0.11; P < 0.001]. Additionally, as revealed by the dataset, the upregulation of CENPF mRNA expression in the PCa tissues significantly correlated with a higher Gleason score (GS, P = 0.005), an advanced pathological stage (P = 0.008), the presence of metastasis (P < 0.001), a shorter overall survival (P = 0.003) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure (P < 0.001). Furthermore, both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the upregulation of CENPF was an independent predictor of poor biochemical recurrence (BCR)-free survival (P < 0.001 and P = 0.012, respectively). Our data suggest that the increased expression of CENPF plays an important role in the progression of PCa. More importantly, the increased expression of CENPF may efficiently predict poor BCR-free survival in patients with PCa.