Expression and clinical significance of centrosomal protein 55 in T-cell lymphoma

T-cell lymphomas (TCLs) have been heterogeneous lymphoid malignancies with aggressive clinical phenotype and poor prognosis. Centrosomal protein 55 (CEP55) played a critical role in cytokinesis and served as a centrosome- and midbody-associated protein. Previous studies have reported the overexpression and clinical significance of CEP55 in various human malignancies, but the exact biological roles of CEP55 in TCLs remained unclear.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the CEP55 expression in patients with TCL and reactive hyperplasia of lymph nodes. The correlation between CEP55 levels and clinical characteristics was also explored for TCL patients. For further investigation, the cell viability of TCL cell lines after CEP55 inhibition was also assessed.

Immunohistochemistry was applied to assess the elevated level of CEP55 in TCLs. After siRNA treatment, cell viability and apoptotic rate of TCL cell lines were observed with CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively.

The Pearson's Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was applied to analyze the correlations between CEP55 overexpression and clinical characteristics. All statistical tests were two-sided, and P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

CEP55 was upregulated in TCL patients and significantly correlated with Ki-67 label index. Consistently, cell viability was decreased, and apoptosis was increased after the suppression of CEP55 in TCL cell lines.

These results suggested that target CEP55 would be a novel therapeutic strategy for the TCL.