NT5E is associated with unfavorable prognosis and regulates cell proliferation and motility in gastric cancer

Ecto-5'-nucleotidase (NT5E) is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchored cell surface protein, and has been suggested to be dysregulated in most types of human cancer including gastric cancer. The aim of the present study was to present more evidence about the clinical and prognostic value of Ecto-5'-nucleotidase in gastric cancer patients, and preliminarily explore the biological function of Ecto-5'-nucleotidase in gastric cancer cells. In our study, high Ecto-5'-nucleotidase expression was observed in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines, respectively, compared with normal gastric mucosa tissues cells. Meanwhile, TCGA database also indicated that Ecto-5'-nucleotidase expression levels were notably elevated in gastric cancer tissues compared with normal gastric mucosa tissues. Furthermore, high-expression of Ecto-5'-nucleotidase was obviously associated with advanced clinical stage, deep tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis in gastric cancer patients. The survival analyses of TCGA database and our study consistent suggested high Ecto-5'-nucleotidase expression was negatively correlated with overall survival time in gastric cancer patients. The univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model showed high Ecto-5'-nucleotidase expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients. Moreover, silencing of Ecto-5'-nucleotidase expression suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro in gastric cancer. In conclusion, Ecto-5'-nucleotidase is a credible prognostic biomarker, and serves as a potential therapeutic target in gastric cancer.