Overexpression of CHAF1A correlates with poor prognosis and tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment and resistance to treatment in cancer

Abstract Background: As distinct marker of proliferating cells, chromatin assembly factor-1 (CAF-1) was critical in DNA replication. CHAF1A, the major subunit in CAF-1 complex, has been shown to be highly expressed in some cancer types. However, there is paucity information about the clinical significance, molecule functions and co-expressed gene network of CHAF1A in breast cancer. Methods: Bioinformatic analysis of CHAF1A and its co-expression gene network were performed using various public databases. Results: Abnormally high expression of CHAF1A was found in 20 types of cancer tissues. Elevated expression of CHAF1A was positively correlated with breast cancer progression and poor patient outcome. Co-expression gene network analysis indicated that CHAF1A was associated with not only cell proliferation, DNA repair, apoptosis, but also cancer metabolism, immune system, drug resistance and so on. More importantly, higher expression of CHAF1A was positively correlated with immunosuppressive microenvironment and resistance to endocrine therapy and chemotherapy. Conclusions: The current study indicates that elevated expression of CHAF1A can be used as diagnosis and poor prognosis biomarker of breast cancer. Although higher expression of CHAF1A induced fast resistance to endocrine therapy and chemotherapy, it may be a potential therapeutic target and biomarker to predict the sensitivity of immunotherapy in breast cancer patients.