Clinical significance and immune effect of expression of NUF2 in lung adenocarcinoma

This study aims to investigate the presence of NUF2 component of NDC80 kinetochore complex (NUF2) in tissues of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and its correlation with infiltration of immune cells, clinical features, and prognosis of patients. A variety of online tools and websites were used to explore the role of NUF2 in LUAD. Verified by cellular and immunohistochemistry. The expression of NUF2 messenger RNA (mRNA) is notably elevated in LUAD, and its levels significantly influence the prognosis of patients with this condition. Additionally, NUF2 expression levels were observed to be associated with survival outcomes across different subgroups, including TNM stage, pathological stage, gender, age, and smoking behavior. We discovered 80 key genes linked to NUF2-associated genes, which play a crucial role in the organelle fission pathway in individuals with NUF2. Furthermore, methylation of NUF2 demonstrates a positive relationship with the levels of chemokines, their receptors, immunoinhibitors, and immunostimulators in LUAD. At the single-cell level, NUF2 expression ranges from highest in spermatocytes, followed by oocytes, and is lowest in erythroid cells. The predominant mutations observed in NUF2 within LUAD cases include amplification and other mutations. Moreover, evaluations utilizing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, along with time-dependent ROC analysis, indicated that the predictive accuracy of NUF2 is significantly enhanced. The prognosis for LUAD correlates with both immune cell infiltration and the expression levels of NUF2. In vitro studies with A549 cells revealed considerably higher mRNA expression levels when compared to BEAS-2B cells. Immunohistochemical assessments confirmed the presence of elevated NUF2 protein expression in human LUAD samples. NUF2 exhibits high expression levels in tissues and cells of LUAD, and is associated with the infiltration of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment as well as patient outcomes. Thus, NUF2 represents a promising target for the clinical treatment of LUAD.