AURKA overexpression is significantly associated with neoplastic transformation in several tumors and deregulated Aurora Kinases expression leads to chromosome instability, thus contributing to cancer progression.
Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed an increased risk of tumor progression for patients with Ta tumors (n = 62) and high STK15 expression (log-rank p = 0.04).
We conclude that the up-regulation of AURKA mRNA may play a critical role in the tumor progression of HNSCC and provides useful information as a prognostic factor for HNSCC patients.
Overall our results suggest that overexpression of Aurora-A/STK15 in bladder tumor cells contributes to tumor progression by promoting chromosomal instability leading to aneuploidy.