Identification of Aurora Kinase A as a Biomarker for Prognosis in Obesity Patients with Early Breast Cancer

Figures & data

Table 1 Baseline Demographics and Characteristics for the Obesity and Non-Obesity Populations

Characteristics	Total	Obesity BMI≥25	Non-Obesity BMI<25	P-value
N	517	198	319
Sex
Female	516	198	318
Male	1	0	1
Age, years
Median	52	53	51
Range	27–91	28–78	27–91
BMI, kg/m^2
Median	24.0	27.3	22.8
Range	15.4–39.5	25.0–39.5	15.4–25.0
Menopausal Status				0.027
Premenopausal	242	80	162
Postmenopausal	275	118	157
Type of Surgery				0.243
Mastectomy	481	188	293
Breast-conserving	36	10	26
Tumor Size, cm				0.001
≤2	133	35	98
>2	374	163	221
Lymph Node				0.087
Positive	256	108	148
Negative	261	90	171
Tumor Grade				0.154
1–2	463	172	291
3	54	26	28
Hormone Receptor Status				0.647
ER or PR Positive	374	146	228
ER and PR Negative	143	52	91
HER2 Status				0.619
Positive	118	48	70
Negative	399	150	249
Adjuvant Chemotherapy				0.096
Yes	380	150	220
No	137	48	99

Figure 1 Patient disposition in our study.

Note: Flow diagram showing patient enrollment, allocation, follow-up, and analysis in this study.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BC, breast cancer.

Figure 2 Representative micrographs of immunohistochemical stains showing Aurora A expression high staining (A), Aurora A expression median staining (B), Aurora A expression weak staining (C), Aurora A expression negative (D).

Figure 3 Association of Aurora A expression with BMI in the obesity cohort (A), and the non-obesity cohort (B).

Figure 4 Prognostic significance of Aurora A expression for OS in breast cancer.

Note: Kaplan–Meier survival curves for overall survival as a function of expression of Aurora A in patients with obesity breast cancer (A), and non-obesity breast cancer (B).

Figure 5 Prognostic significance of Aurora A expression for RFS in breast cancer.

Note: Kaplan–Meier survival curves for relapse-free survival as a function of expression of Aurora A in patients with obesity breast cancer (A), and non-obesity breast cancer (B).

Table 2 Univariate and Multivariate Cox Regression Analyses for OS in Our Study

Variables	Univariate Analysis		Multivariate Analysis
Overall Survival	HR (95% CI)	P-value	HR (95% CI)	P-value
Age <60 vs ≥60	0.502 (0.276–0.914)	0.024	0.652 (0.377–1.127)	0.125
Menopausal status Pre- vs Post-menopausal	1.094 (0.747–1.604)	0.644
Tumor size T1 vs T2/T3/T4	1.088 (0.694–1.706)	0.713
Lymph node Positive vs Negative	1.724 (1.029–2.403)	0.002	1.610 (1.377–2.507)	0.019
Adjuvant chemotherapy Yes vs No	1.205 (0.815–1.780)	0.350
BMI <25 vs ≥25	1.651 (1.123–2.428)	0.011	1.470 (0.998–2.502)	0.053
ER status Positive vs Negative	1.160 (0.770–1.747)	0.479
PR status Positive vs Negative	0.966 (0.652–1.432)	0.863
HER2 status Positive vs Negative	1.320 (0.918–1.988)	0.096	1.358 (0.817–2.256)	0.238
Aurora A staining score <4 vs ≥4	1.669 (1.132–2.459)	0.010	1.629 (1.091–2.439)	0.017

Figure 6 Prognostic significance of expression of Aurora A in breast cancer from TCGA public database.

Notes: Expression of Aurora A in cellular structure (A), the significant differences between normal and cancer in Pan-cancer (B). Construction of the PPI network and identification of a significant module with high Aurora A expression by cytoscape (C). The most significant module (AURKA and CCNB1) was obtained from the PPI network using molecular complex detection (D). Kaplan–Meier survival curves for overall survival as a function of expression of Aurora A in patients with breast cancer (E).

Abbreviations: N, normal; T, tumor; BLCA, bladder urothelial carcinoma; BRCA, breast invasion carcinoma; CHOL, cholangiocarcinoma; COAD, colon adenocarcinoma; ESCA, esophageal carcinoma; GBM, glioblastoma multiforme; HNSC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; KICH, kidney chromophobe; KIRC, kidney renal clear cell carcinoma; KIRP, kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma; LGG, brain lower grade glioma; LIHC, liver hepatocellular carcinoma; LUAD, lung adenocarcinoma; LUSC, lung squamous cell carcinoma; PAAD, pancreatic adenocarcinoma; PRAD, prostate adenocarcinoma; READ, rectum adenocarcinoma; STAD, stomach adenocarcinoma; THCA, thyroid carcinoma; UCEC, uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma.

Table 3 Correlation Between Aurora A Expression and Other Biomarkers by Spearman Coefficient Analysis in Obesity Patients with Early Breast Cancer

Aurora A vs.	Cyclin B1	MMP11	Cathepsin L	Survivin
Coefficient value	0.227	0.169	0.051	0.043
P-value	0.001	0.017	0.483	0.547