GINS Complex Subunit 2 Facilitates Gastric Adenocarcinoma Proliferation and Indicates Poor Prognosis

Gastric cancer is the one of the most lethal malignancies of digestive system. Identifying molecular biomarkers is invaluable in help predicting clinical outcomes and developing targeted chemotherapies. GINS complex subunit 2 (GINS2) plays an essential role in the initiation and elongation of DNA replication. Although there have been studies revealing the prognostic significance of GINS2 in breast cancer and lung cancer, its involvement and function in gastric cancer need to be elucidated. We retrospectively enrolled a cohort of gastric adenocarcinoma patients after surgical resection (n = 123). By analyzing the mRNA and protein levels of GINS2 in tissue samples, we found that GINS2 presented a higher expression in tumor tissues than in adjacent normal stomach tissues. Besides, GINS2 level was positively correlated with tumor size and gastric adenocarcinoma tumor stage, implying its potential role as a tumor promoter. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified that patients with lower GINS2 showed a better overall survival compared to those with higher GINS2 expression. In addition, cellular and xenograft experiments confirmed the role of GINS2 in facilitating tumor proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. To our knowledge, this is the initial finding on GINS2 in promoting gastric adenocarcinoma progression. In conclusion, our study revealed a pro-oncogenic role of GINS2 in gastric cancer.