Evaluation of cancer related missense mutations in CENPH

Objective: CENPH, centromere protein H, is one of the constitutive kinetochore proteins. High expression of CENPH has been shown in various forms of cancers; however, studies searching the effect of CENPH mutations in cancers are limited. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the potential effects of the missense mutations of CENPH that have been identified in different cancers. Materials and Methods: Missense CENPH mutations, which have been observed in cancers, were downloaded from the COSMIC v89. The effect of missense mutations was predicted by using PredictSNP1.0. The protein structure of the CENPH protein was generated with I-TASSER and missense mutations were visualized on CENPH protein with UCSF Chimera. Structural effects of selected mutations were assessed with HOPE. Results: 34 missense mutations were observed in human cancers. Of the 34 missense mutations 18 mutations were predicted as deleterious and 16 mutations were predicted as neutral with ranging expected accuracies. Predicted missense mutations showed a scattered pattern on 3D CENPH protein. Two of the predicted deleterious missense mutations with higher expected accuracy were further analyzed and assessed according to amino acid properties. Conclusion: This study provided a systematic analysis and evaluation of missense mutations on a CENPH protein that have been observed in different cancers.