NCEH1 may be a prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer

Neutral Cholesterol Ester Hydrolase 1 (NCEH1) is an enzyme involved in ether lipid metabolism, and the NCEH1 gene is overexpressed in a variety of tumors. However, its role in pancreatic cancer remains unknown. Therefore, we compared the gene transcription data of healthy and pancreatic cancer tissues using the Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression databases. R software (v3.6.1) was used for the differential, clinicopathological correlation, and survival analyses. We found that NCEH1 was overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissues compared with that in healthy tissues (P = 1.732 e-50), and that its expression level was related to lymph node metastasis. High NCEH1 expression was associated with poor overall survival (P = 0.002). Using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, we determined that NCEH1 is an independent risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Gene set enrichment analysis identified that NCEH1 overexpression is prominent in cell-cell adhesion junctions, pancreatic cancer, cancer-associated pathways, prostate cancer, and chronic myeloid leukemia. In contrast, low NCEH1 expression correlated to high oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, we conclude that NCEH1 may be a prognostic biomarker for pancreatic cancer.