Comprehensive pan-cancer analysis of NIFK with potential implications for prognosis and immunotherapy response

NIFK, a Ki-67 binding protein, has been identified to be closely associated with lung cancer and liver cancer with its involvement in other tumor types are still insufficient. We aim to assess the significance of NIFK in pan-cancer. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) database were used to explore the role of NIFK in pan-cancer, some software and web platforms such as HPA, R, TIMER 2.0 and Connectivity Map were used for acquiring and processing data. NIFK was significantly overexpressed in various tumor types, and its high expression status was identified as a correlate of poor prognosis. Moreover, the heatmap derived from Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) indicated substantial enrichment of cell proliferation-related signaling cascades. Regarding immune cell infiltration, there is a significant negative correlation between NIFK expression and the infiltration levels of CD8+ T cells in COAD. Through CMap analysis, we identified some potential inhibitors that counteract the pro-oncogenic effects mediated by NIFK in COAD and READ. In vitro cell experiments show that NIFK knockdown suppresses cell viability in RKO cell. NIFK may serve as a potential prognostic and immune-associated biomarker across human cancers, although further experimental and clinical validation is required.