Clinicopathological significance of G9A expression in colorectal carcinoma

G9A, the primary histone methyltransferase (HMTase) for histone H3 lysine 9, is upregulated in numerous types of cancer and is critical for tumor cell proliferation. The present study aimed to investigate the G9A expression level in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) to evaluate the clinical significance of G9A in CRC. First, the present study detected the expression of G9A protein in 100 pairs of CRC specimens by immunohistochemistry staining and analyzed the correlations between G9A expression and pathological tumor features. It was found that G9A expression was increased markedly in CRC tumor specimens and the high expression was associated with tumor distant metastasis. Oncomine database analysis demonstrated an elevated expression level of G9A in various types of CRC. In total, 6 public available data sets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were used and Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was conducted. The results of the bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that high G9A expression was associated with American Joint Committee on Cancer staging, tumor differentiation, tumor relapse of CRC, and may serve a role in CRC cell proliferation. These findings suggested that G9A was overexpressed in CRC and involved in the tumorigenesis and distant metastasis of CRC. The expression level may also serve as a potential indicator for tumor recurrence in CRC. The present findings aided in the understanding of the crucial role of G9A in tumorigenesis and also offered novel ideas for CRC therapy.