Id-1 expression in colorectal adenocarcinoma tissues and its clinical significance

Combination of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and matrix metalloproteinase-9 are biomarkers for the detection of colon tubular adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Tubular adenocarcinoma of the colon, which originates from the epithelium of the glands, is a major health concern worldwide. However, it is difficult to detect at an early stage. The lack of biomarkers is a main barrier to the diagnosis and treatment of tubular adenocarcinoma. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a secreted protein that induces the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and is involved in various tumors. NGAL and MMP-9 have been reported to be associated with tumorigenesis and development. They may have potential as biomarkers for diagnosis of tubular adenocarcinoma of the colon.

AIM

To determine whether NGAL and MMP-9 can be used as potential biomarkers to indicate the progression of tubular adenocarcinoma of the colon.

METHODS

Samples were collected from surgically excised tissue from various patients. The content of pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (pro-GRP) in the serum was measured by an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. The expression patterns of NGAL and MMP-9 and the relationship between NGAL and MMP-9 were examined by quantitative real-time PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis.

RESULTS

In this study, we found that NGAL and MMP-9 can be used as biomarkers for the detection of tubular adenocarcinoma of the colon and that their combination improved diagnostic accuracy. By analyzing the expression of NGAL in tubular adenocarcinoma at different levels, we found that NGAL expression was significantly upregulated in primary tubular adenocarcinoma tissues compared with normal tissues. The upregulation of NGAL expression was strongly correlated with both the degree of differentiation and the disease stage (I–III), indicating that NGAL could serve as a diagnostic biomarker for tubular adenocarcinoma. When using NGAL as a biomarker for diagnosis, the accuracy was similar to that achieved with the widely used biomarker pro-GRP, suggesting that NGAL is reliable. Moreover, the expression of MMP-9 was also strongly correlated with the differentiation stage, demonstrating that MMP-9 could be used as a biomarker to indicate the progression of tubular adenocarcinoma of the colon. More importantly, the combination of NGAL and MMP-9 produced a more accurate diagnosis of tubular adenocarcinoma, and these results were further confirmed by immunohistochemical analysis of tissue sections.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated that both NGAL and MMP-9 can be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis of colon tubular adenocarcinoma and that the results could be further improved by combining them.

IL-8, MSPa, MIF, FGF-9, ANG-2 and AgRP collection were identified for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer based on the support vector machine model

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancer, and the early detection of CRC is essential to improve the survival rate of patients. To identify diagnostic markers for colorectal cancer (CRC) by screening differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in CRC. The DEPs were initially obtained from 12 CRC samples and 12 healthy control samples, and verification analysis was performed in another 34 CRC samples and 34 normal controls. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment with DEPs was analyzed by the R package clusterProfiler (Version 3.2.11), and the DEP-associated protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was created from the STRING database. Additionally, Support Vector Machine (SVM) model prediction and survival analyses were conducted on the key DEPs. Preliminary screening and functional analysis showed that the DEPs mainly overrepresented in pathways such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, chemokine signaling pathway, Rap1, Ras, and MAPK signaling pathways. The key DEPs, including AgRP, ANG-2, Dtk, EOT3, FGF-4, FGF-9, HCC-4, IL-16, IL-8, MIF, MSPa, TECK, TPO, TRAIL R3, and VEGF-D, were used to construct a custom chip. The drug-gene interaction network suggested that TPO was a key drug target. ROC curve showed the SVM diagnostic model with the DEPs IL-8, MSPa, MIF, FGF-9, ANG-2, and AgRP had better diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.933. Survival analysis showed the expression of FGF9, TPO, TRAIL R3, Dtk, TECK and FGF4 were associated with prognosis. This study revealed the important serum proteins in the pathogenesis of CRC, which might serve as useful and noninvasive predictors for the diagnosis of CRC.

High-expression of LncRNA MAFG-AS1 is associated with the prognostic of patients with colorectal cancer

OBJECTIVE

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proven to exhibit distinct functions on the convoluted processes of tumor developments. Some studies on the biological functions of lncRNA MAFG-AS1 (MAFG-AS1) in cancers revealed that they may serve as an oncogene in some kinds of tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, little is known about the role of MAFG-AS1 in the prognostic of CRC.

METHODS

A public dataset was mined for the screening of dysregulated lncRNAs in CRC. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(qPCR) was used to compare the levels of MAFG-AS1 between paired MAFG-AS1 specimens and normal adjacent tissues. The correlations between MAFG-AS1 and clinic pathological features in CRC were analyzed using the chi-square test. The log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier test were carried out to compare the survival time of patients with high and low expressions of MAFG-AS1. Cox regression was applied for univariate and multivariate assays to validate whether MAFG-AS1 could be an independent factor in the prognosis of CRC.

RESULTS

We found that the distinct upregulation of MAFG-AS1 in various tumors was a common event. MAFG-AS1 was distinctly up-regulated in CRC specimens compared to matched non-tumor specimens (p < 0.01). High MAFG-AS1 expressions were closely associated with depth of invasion (p = 0.011) and TNM stage (p = 0.022). Survival assays revealed that patients with high expression of MAFG-AS1 have a shorter overall survival (p = 0.0030) and disease-free survival (p = 0.0002).

CONCLUSIONS

MAFG-AS1 can serve as a novel potential biomarker to predict CRC patients' survival time.