Analysis of the Role and Molecular Subtype Association of Kinesin Family Member 18B in Endometrial Carcinoma

doi:10.12280/gjfckx.20260137

Abstract

Abstract:

The incidence of endometrial cancer (EC) continues to rise, posing a serious threat to women's health and challenging conventional classification and treatment approaches. Kinesin family member 18B (KIF18B), as a member of the kinesin superfamily, plays a pivotal role in mitotic cell division and chromosome segregation. KIF18B is aberrantly overexpressed in various malignancies, including EC, and its expression level is significantly correlated with adverse clinicopathological features and worse overall survival in EC patients. Mechanistically, KIF18B regulates cell cycle progression by activating signaling pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin and PI3K/Akt/mTOR, induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), maintains cancer stem cell properties, and participates in shaping an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, thereby synergistically driving the initiation and progression of EC. With the increasing adoption of EC molecular classification in clinical practice, the potential association of KIF18B with different molecular subtypes offers novel perspective for its application as a prognostic biomarker and a subtype-specific therapeutic target. Based on the core function of KIF18B in chromosome segregation and the evidence for selective lethality of its homologous protein KIF18A in chromosomally unstable (CIN) cells, KIF18B may harbor targeting potential in the p53-abnormal（p53abn） subtype, and it could influence the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors by remodeling the immune microenvironment in the mismatch repair-deficient（MMRd） subtype. This review systematically summarizes the biological characteristics, of KIF18B, its expression regulatory network and oncogenic mechanisms in EC, its potential association with EC molecular subtypes, and discusses the challenges and future directions for its clinical translation, aiming to provide a novel theoretical foundations and research direction for the precise diagnosis and targeted therapy of EC.

Key words: Kinesin family member 18B, Endometrial neoplasms, Carcinoma, Molecular mechanisms, Molecular subtyping, Chromosomal instability

WANG Wei, DAI Bai, SHA Ri-na, TUO Ya. Analysis of the Role and Molecular Subtype Association of Kinesin Family Member 18B in Endometrial Carcinoma[J]. Journal of International Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2026, 53(3): 292-297.

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