Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 8, 2025
Discovery of Driver Genes in Colorectal HT29-derived Cancer Stem-Like Tumorspheres
Published on: July 22, 2020
Identification of hub genes in colon cancer via bioinformatics analysis
Jun Liu1,2, Gui-Li Sun3, Shang-Ling Pan4
1Department of Gastroenterology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, P.R. China.
Objectives:
This study aimed to investigate hub genes and their prognostic value in colon cancer via bioinformatics analysis.
Methods:
Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of expression profiles (GSE33113, GSE20916, and GSE37364) obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were identified using the GEO2R tool and Venn diagram software. Function and pathway enrichment analyses were performed, and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed. Hub genes were verified based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) databases.
Results:
We identified 207 DEGs, 62 upregulated and 145 downregulated genes, enriched in Gene Ontology terms "organic anion transport," "extracellular matrix," and "receptor ligand activity", and in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway "cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction." The PPI network was constructed and nine hub genes were selected by survival analysis and expression validation. We verified these genes in the TCGA database and selected three potential predictors (ZG16, TIMP1, and BGN) that met the independent predictive criteria. TIMP1 and BGN were upregulated in patients with a high cancer risk, whereas ZG16 was downregulated. The immunostaining results from HPA supported these findings.
Conclusion:
This study indicates that these hub genes may be promising prognostic indicators or therapeutic targets for colon cancer.
Related Concept Videos
01:05Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
01:33Cancer-Critical Genes I: Proto-oncogenes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...