ABSTRACT
【Objective】 To investigate the expression of Kinesin family member 14 (KIF14), and its correlation with clinical prognosis and immune cell infiltration of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). 【Methods】 The correlation between KIF14 expression in ccRCC and different clinicopathological features were analyzed with TCGA, GEO and Ualcan databases. The correlation between KIF14 expression and prognosis was analzyed with Kaplan-Meier method. The correlation between KIF14 expression and immune cell infiltration was analzyed with TIMER. The protein-protein interaction network of KIF14 was conducted with Genemania. The co-expression genes of KIF14 in TCGA-KIRC were picked out in Linkedomics database and were used to perform GO annotations and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis with R software. The biological functions of KIF14 were verified with in vitro functional assay. 【Results】 KIF14 was highly expressed in ccRCC tissue and was positively correlated with clinical stage, pathological grade, and lymphatic metastasis, but negatively correlated with clinical prognosis. KIF14 expression was an independent risk factor for overall survival of ccRCC patients. GO annotations showed that KIF14 was involved in DNA replication, nuclear division, organelle fission, and cell adhesion. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that KIF14 participated in cell cycle and p53 signaling pathway. Genemania analysis indicated KIF14 interacted with CENPE, CIT, KIF23, and other proteins. Timer showed that KIF14 was positively correlated with immune cell infiltration. Knockdown of KIF14 expression suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of ccRCC. 【Conclusions】 KIF14 may serve as a novel prognostic marker and a potential therapeutic target of clear cell renal cell carcinoma.