Pan-cancer analysis of nemo-like kinase (NLK) expression convergence to pancreatic adenocarcinoma that has diagnostic, prognostic and treatment value

Background: Nemo-like kinase (NLK) is an evolutionarily conserved mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase-related kinase. Nemo-like kinase (NLK) can not only undergo autophosphorylation but is also involved in many critical signaling pathways as a regulator of tumorigenesis. In recent years, accumulating shreds of evidence have suggested that NLK is a crucial molecule regulating the occurrence and development of various tumors. Abnormal expression of NLK not only participates in cancer cell growth, proliferation, migration, and apoptosis, but also has significant reference value for disease prognosis. Moreover, in different types of cancer, the effects of NLK over- or under-expression are not consistent. Despite these advances, no studies comprehensively describe the significance of Nemo-like kinase expression in all 33 kinds of cancer, or have evaluated its prognostic value. Materials & methods: A total of 10,201 samples were obtained from the GDC data portal and four groups of GEO datasets were collected for verification. A variety of bioinformatics analysis methods were used to reveal the roles of NLK in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of tumor patients. Conclusion: NLK is significantly overexpressed in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) tissues than normal controls. The NLK expression in PAAD is also different in different pathological stages. NLK is a prognostic biomarker and is correlated with immune infiltrates in PAAD. The abnormal expression of NLK in PAAD will influence the expression of a variety of genes, whose functions are enriched in multiple metabolism, hormone secretion, and even neuron regulation pathways. More importantly, the IHC slides for PAAD and corresponding normal tissues were significantly different, which can be used in clinical diagnosis.