Upregulated NLGN1 predicts poor survival in colorectal cancer

Neuroligin1 (NLGN1) is a main component of excitatory glutamatergic synapses complex and is important for synapse assembly and function. The clinical value of NLGN1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) is not clear.

We obtained the expression data of 1143 CRC patients from 3 independent Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets (GSE32323, GSE24551, GSE39582) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to make the comparison of the NLGN1 expression level between CRC tissues and matched noncancerous tissues, and to evaluate its value in predicting survival of CRC patients. At the protein level, these results were further confirmed by immunohistochemical staining of 52 CRC samples in our own centre. Finally, the function of NLGN1 was explored by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA).

Increased mRNA and protein levels of NLGN1 expression were associated with worse overall survival or recurrence-free survival in CRC patients from 2 GEO datasets, the TCGA database, and our cohort. In addition, multivariate regression analysis showed that NLGN1 was an independent poor prognostic factor of survival in patients with CRC in TCGA database (OR = 2.524, P = 0.010). Functional analysis revealed that NLGN1 was correlated with function involving the Hedgehog signaling pathway, mismatch repair process, and some material metabolism processes.

This study is the first to implicate and verify NLGN1 as a new poor prognostic marker for CRC.