Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
194,216 studies31 sourcesUpdated 19 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYBiomedicines

Cross-Cancer Characterization of CAMK2A Reveals Its Favorable Prognostic Association and Neuronal Signature Enrichment in Glioma.

  • Yimin Pan1,2
  • Changwu Wu2,3
  • Jun Tan2,3
  • Fushu Luo2,3
  • Ziqiang Wu2,4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya St., Changsha 410008, China.
  2. 2National Clinical Research Center of Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya St., Changsha 410008, China.
  3. 3Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya St., Changsha 410008, China.
  4. 4Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 87 Xiangya St., Changsha 410008, China.
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Background: Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II alpha (CAMK2A) is a neuron-enriched kinase that plays essential roles in synaptic signaling and neuronal differentiation. However, its clinical significance and biological relevance in glioma remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to systematically characterize CAMK2A across human cancers and investigate its prognostic significance and association with neuronal differentiation programs in glioma. Methods: An integrated multi-omics analysis was performed using pan-cancer transcriptomic, proteomic, genomic, DNA methylation, bulk RNA-sequencing, and single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets from TCGA, CPTAC, GTEx, CGGA, and other public resources. CAMK2A expression patterns, clinical associations, prognostic value, molecular characteristics, pathway activities, and cellular localization were systematically evaluated. Multiplex immunofluorescence staining of human glioma specimens was further performed to validate the protein-level expression patterns of CaMKII and the neuronal marker MAP2. Results:CAMK2A exhibited lineage-specific dysregulation across human cancers and was progressively downregulated during glioma progression. Higher CAMK2A expression was consistently associated with prolonged overall survival across multiple independent glioma cohorts and remained an independent favorable prognostic factor after adjustment for established clinicopathological and molecular variables. Functional enrichment analyses linked CAMK2A to neuronal differentiation, synaptic organization, calcium signaling, and neurotransmission-related pathways. Gliomas with high CAMK2A expression exhibited lower scores for several malignancy-associated pathways and enrichment of neuronal transcriptional signatures; these tissue-level associations do not distinguish tumor-intrinsic programs from normal neuronal admixture. Single-cell transcriptomic analyses further revealed preferential enrichment of CAMK2A in neuronal populations. Consistently, multiplex immunofluorescence demonstrated a coordinated reduction in CaMKII and MAP2 protein expression with glioma progression. Conclusions:CAMK2A represents a neuron-associated biomarker linked to preserved neuronal differentiation programs and favorable clinical outcomes in glioma. These findings support its potential value as a prognostic biomarker and provide further insight into the relationship between neuronal differentiation programs and glioma progression.

Related

  1. Characterization of the crotonylation landscape in gastric cancer: a machine learning-derived prognostic signature and the oncogenic role of TIMP1
    Ji Gao, Yuefeng Zhang, Min Zhou +1
    Human GenomicsPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGenetics & genomicsGeneral medicineDOAJ
  2. Multi-omics characterization of CAF-related transcriptional programs reveals a smoking-context-informed 11-gene prognostic signature in HNSCC.
    Tao Shi, Yuqing Wang, Lisheng Yu +1
    BMC cancerPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMCPMC
  3. Reply to ‘DR1-DR2 enrichment in HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B: integration hotspot or survivor signature?’
    Daryl T-Y Lau, Ying-Hsiu Su, Haitao Guo
    GutPeer-reviewedLicence not statedFull textEpidemiology & public healthPMC
  4. Electrophysiological signature of stroke recovery: investigating EEG biomarkers for prognostic insights
    Majid Khalili-Ardali, Vivek Sharma, Tarandeep Singh Mandahar +3
    Frontiers in strokePeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  5. An interpretable machine-learning signature predicts early triple-negative breast cancer recurrence but adds no prognostic value beyond clinicopathological factors in external validation
    Haocheng Nan, Rong Di, Xiaorong Kou +1
    Scientific ReportsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textOncologyCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{pan2026crosscancer,
  title = {{Cross-Cancer Characterization of CAMK2A Reveals Its Favorable Prognostic Association and Neuronal Signature Enrichment in Glioma.}},
  author = {Yimin Pan and Changwu Wu and Jun Tan and Fushu Luo and Ziqiang Wu},
  journal = {Biomedicines},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.3390/biomedicines14102216},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42940022},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Cross-Cancer Characterization of CAMK2A Reveals Its Favorable Prognostic Association and Neuronal Signature Enrichment in Glioma.
AU  - Yimin Pan
AU  - Changwu Wu
AU  - Jun Tan
AU  - Fushu Luo
AU  - Ziqiang Wu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
JO  - Biomedicines
DO  - 10.3390/biomedicines14102216
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42940022
AB  - Background: Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II alpha (CAMK2A) is a neuron-enriched kinase that plays essential roles in synaptic signaling and neuronal differentiation. However, its clinical significance and biological relevance in glioma remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to systematically characterize CAMK2A across human cancers and investigate its prognostic significance and association with neuronal differentiation programs in glioma. Methods: An integrated multi-omics analysis was performed using pan-cancer transcriptomic, proteomic, genomic, DNA methylation, bulk RNA-sequencing, and single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets from TCGA, CPTAC, GTEx, CGGA, and other public resources. CAMK2A expression patterns, clinical associations, prognostic value, molecular characteristics, pathway activities, and cellular localization were systematically evaluated. Multiplex immunofluorescence staining of human glioma specimens was further performed to validate the protein-level expression patterns of CaMKII and the neuronal marker MAP2. Results:CAMK2A exhibited lineage-specific dysregulation across human cancers and was progressively downregulated during glioma progression. Higher CAMK2A expression was consistently associated with prolonged overall survival across multiple independent glioma cohorts and remained an independent favorable prognostic factor after adjustment for established clinicopathological and molecular variables. Functional enrichment analyses linked CAMK2A to neuronal differentiation, synaptic organization, calcium signaling, and neurotransmission-related pathways. Gliomas with high CAMK2A expression exhibited lower scores for several malignancy-associated pathways and enrichment of neuronal transcriptional signatures; these tissue-level associations do not distinguish tumor-intrinsic programs from normal neuronal admixture. Single-cell transcriptomic analyses further revealed preferential enrichment of CAMK2A in neuronal populations. Consistently, multiplex immunofluorescence demonstrated a coordinated reduction in CaMKII and MAP2 protein expression with glioma progression. Conclusions:CAMK2A represents a neuron-associated biomarker linked to preserved neuronal differentiation programs and favorable clinical outcomes in glioma. These findings support its potential value as a prognostic biomarker and provide further insight into the relationship between neuronal differentiation programs and glioma progression.
SN  - 2227-9059
ER  -