The role of the Chaperonin containing t-complex polypeptide 1, subunit 8 (CCT8) in B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

• CCT8 promotes cell proliferation in B-cell NHL.
• CCT8 accelerates the G1/S transition in B-cell NHL.
• Ectopic expression of CCT8 reverses CAM-DR phenotype.

The chaperonin containing t-complex polypeptide 1 (CCT) is known to mediate folding of proteins. CCT, subunit 8 (CCT8), is the θ subunit of CCT complex chaperonin. CCT8 has been reported to be dysregulated in several tumor tissues. In this study, we investigated the role of CCT8 in B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Clinically, the expression levels of CCT8 in reactive lymphoid hyperplasia (RLH) and B-cell NHL specimens were investigated using immunohistochemical analysis. We found that CCT8 was highly expressed in proliferating germinal center cells compared with the quiescent cells of the follicular mantle zone. Furthermore, CCT8 was highly expressed in progressive lymphomas than in indolent lymphomas. Kaplan-Meier curve showed that high expression of CCT8 was significantly associated with shorter overall survival in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Moreover, we demonstrated that CCT8 could promote the proliferation of B-cell NHL cells. In addition, we found that CCT8 could accelerate the G1/S transition in B-cell NHL. Finally, we demonstrated that overexpression of CCT8 could reverse cell adhesion-mediated drug resistance (CAM-DR) phenotype. Our study may shed new insights into the important role of CCT8 in cancer development.