Clinical and Translational Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. May 15, 2024; 16(5): 1908-1924
Published online May 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i5.1908
Four centrosome-related genes to predict the prognosis and drug sensitivity of patients with colon cancer
Hui-Yan Wang, Yan Diao, Pei-Zhu Tan, Huan Liang
Hui-Yan Wang, Huan Liang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin 150086, Heilongjiang Province, China
Yan Diao, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Heilongjiang Province Hospital, Harbin 150000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Pei-Zhu Tan, Translational Medicine Center of Northern China, Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Wang HY and Liang H conceived the research; Wang HY, Diao Y, and Tan PZ analyzed the data and prepared the figures; all authors drafted the work or revised it critically for important content.
Supported by Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund, No. LBH-Z18214; Haiyan Foundation of Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, No. JJQN2014-06; and Foundation of Health Commission of Heilongjiang Province, No. 2016-096.
Institutional review board statement: The current study did not require approval from an ethics committee.
Informed consent statement: The data that support the findings of this study are publicly available. The current study did not require signed informed consent documents.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: All data and material are public.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Huan Liang, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, No. 150 Haping Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150086, Heilongjiang Province, China. 601774@hrbmu.edu.cn
Received: November 7, 2023
Peer-review started: November 7, 2023
First decision: December 28, 2023
Revised: January 8, 2024
Accepted: February 22, 2024
Article in press: February 22, 2024
Published online: May 15, 2024
Processing time: 184 Days and 11.3 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

As the primary microtubule organizing center in animal cells, centrosome abnormalities are involved in human colon cancer.

AIM

To explore the role of centrosome-related genes (CRGs) in colon cancer.

METHODS

CRGs were collected from public databases. Consensus clustering analysis was performed to separate the Cancer Genome Atlas cohort. Univariate Cox and least absolute shrinkage selection operator regression analyses were performed to identify candidate prognostic CRGs and construct a centrosome-related signature (CRS) to score colon cancer patients. A nomogram was developed to evaluate the CRS risk in colon cancer patients. An integrated bioinformatics analysis was conducted to explore the correlation between the CRS and tumor immune microenvironment and response to immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. Single-cell transcriptome analysis was conducted to examine the immune cell landscape of core prognostic genes.

RESULTS

A total of 726 CRGs were collected from public databases. A CRS was constructed, which consisted of the following four genes: TSC1, AXIN2, COPS7A, and MTUS1. Colon cancer patients with a high-risk signature had poor survival. Patients with a high-risk signature exhibited decreased levels of plasma cells and activated memory CD4+ T cells. Regarding treatment response, patients with a high-risk signature were resistant to immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. COPS7A expression was relatively high in endothelial cells and fibroblasts. MTUS1 expression was high in endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and malignant cells.

CONCLUSION

We constructed a centrosome-related prognostic signature that can accurately predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients, contributing to the development of individualized treatment for colon cancer.

Keywords: Colon cancer; Centrosome; Signature; Prognostic; Immune microenvironment; Therapy

Core Tip: Centrosome abnormalities, as the main microtubule tissue center of animal cells, are associated with human colon cancer. Our aim was to investigate the role of centrosome related genes (CRGs) in colon cancer. A total of 726 CRGs were collected from the public database. We constructed a centrosome-related signature composed of four genes: TSC1, AXIN2, COPS7A, and MTUS1. Colon cancer patients with high-risk characteristics had a low survival rate. Patients with high-risk characteristics exhibited decreased plasma cell levels and memory CD4+ T cell activation. Regarding treatment response, patients with high-risk characteristics were resistant to immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. The expression of COPS7A was relatively high in endothelial cells and fibroblasts. MTUS1 was highly expressed in endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and malignant cells. We constructed a prognostic marker related to the centrosome, which can accurately predict the prognosis of colon cancer patients and contribute to the development of individualized colon cancer treatment.