DDIAS promotes invasion and proliferation of non-small cell lung cancer and predicts poor survival of lung cancer patients

DNA damage-induced apoptosis suppressor (DDIAS), also called hNoxin or C11 or f82, is an anti-apoptotic protein in response to stress. The clinicopathological significance of DDIAS in non-small cell lung cancer patients is largely unknown until now. The purpose of our study is to analyze the clinicopathological association of DDIAS in NSCLC patients. We found that the positive ratio of DDIAS was significantly higher than that in the corresponding non-cancerous lung tissues (P<0.001). Positive DDIAS expression correlated with larger tumor size and positive regional lymph node metastasis (P=0.048 and P=0.018, respectively). Online Kaplan-Meier Plotter tool analysis results and survival analysis results of our cohort revealed that both DDIAS gene level (P=0.0048) and protein level (P<0.001) were associated with adverse outcome in NSCLC patients for overall survival, as well as in multiple subgroups divided by different clinicopathological features. Subsequent univariate and multivariate analysis suggested that only positive DDIAS was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (P=0.018). In NSCLC cell lines, overexpression of DDIAS enhanced the ability of invasion and proliferation, whereas depleting DDIAS depressed the ability of invasion and proliferation. In conclusion, our results suggest that positive DDIAS expression may be a potent prognostic factor in NSCLC patients. DDIAS promotes proliferation and invasion in NSCLC cells and correlates with progression of NSCLC patients.