AUTHOR=Zhang Peng , Zheng Pan , Liu Yang 

TITLE=Amplification of the CD24 Gene Is an Independent Predictor for Poor Prognosis of Breast Cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2019.00560

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2019.00560

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>CD24</italic> is a glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol linked glycoprotein expressed in a broad range of cell types including cancer cells. Although it is overexpressed in nearly 70% of human cancers, copy number variation of the <italic>CD24</italic> locus has not been reported for any cancer. Here, we analyzed the genomics, transcriptomics, and clinical data of 1082 breast cancer (BRCA) samples and other cancer samples from the clinically annotated genomic database, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The GISTIC2 method was applied to stratify the <italic>CD24</italic> copy number, and Cox regression was performed to compare hazard ratio (HR) of <italic>CD24</italic> overexpression, amplification and other traditional prognosis features for overall survival (OS). Our data demonstrated that <italic>CD24</italic> amplification strongly correlated with its mRNA overexpression as well as <italic>TP53</italic> mutant, cancer proliferation and metastasis features. In particular, <italic>CD24</italic> amplification was enriched in basal-like subtype samples and associated with poor clinical outcome. Surprisingly, based on the univariate Cox regression analysis, <italic>CD24</italic> overexpression (<italic>HR</italic> = 1.62, <italic>P</italic> = 0.010) and copy number amplification (<italic>HR</italic> = 1.79, <italic>P</italic> = 0.022) was more relevant to OS than <italic>TP53</italic> mutant, mutation counts, diagnosis age, and BRCA subtypes. And based on multivariate survival analysis, <italic>CD24</italic> amplification remained the most significant and independent predictor for worse OS (<italic>HR</italic> = 1.88, <italic>P</italic> = 0.015).</p>