Pan-cancer analysis combined with experimental validation revealed that is an immunological and prognostic biomarker.

Background: Kinectin 1 () is a membrane protein involved in intracellular organelle motility. However, the role of in human pan-cancer lacks systematic analysis and evaluation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the expression profile and clinical value in human cancers by performing a pan-cancer analysis of .

Methods: The expression of and its correlation with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) infiltration were analyzed in TIMER2.0. The survival analysis, pathological stage correlation, and co-expression gene correlation analysis of were performed on GEPIA2.0. We investigated the protein expression level of in tumors through UALCAN. The cBioportal platform was used to analyze the variation frequency and type of . We used STRING database for protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) and colony formation and transwell assay were performed to investigate the proliferation and migration abilities of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC) cells with knockdown.

Results: was differentially expressed in 12 kinds of cancer tissues compared with correspondent normal tissues. Meanwhile, the high expression of was negatively correlated with the prognosis of HNSC, adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), and liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC). Further analysis suggested that patients with mutations had better overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival than those without mutations among several cancers. Moreover, the level of CAFs and expression were significantly correlated in 12 types of cancer. Mechanically, co-expression analysis showed the positive association between and KTN1 antisense RNA 1 (-), MNAT1 component of CDK activating kinase (), N-alpha-acetyltransferase 30 (), protein phosphatase 2 regulatory subunit B'epsilon (), and proteasome 26S subunit (), which are mainly involved in the protein kinase AMP-activated catalytic subunit alpha 1 () signaling pathway that regulates the progression of tumors.

Conclusions: The functional experiment revealed that promotes the proliferation and metastasis of HNSC cells. The pan-cancer analysis of revealed its significance in different cancers, which provides a new marker for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancers.