Transcriptome-based identification of molecular markers related to the development and prognosis of Colon cancer

Colon cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive system that seriously threaten human health and whose pathogenesis has not been completely elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate genes related to colon cancer and explore their potential values in colon cancer prognosis. Clinical information and transcriptome data of patients with colon cancer were obtained from UCSC Xena. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between colon cancer tissues and normal colon tissues were identified and analyzed by R packages. A total of 1414 DEGs were identified, including 593 upregulated and 821 downregulated genes in colon cancer tissues. These DEGs were enriched in multiple biological processes, such as cell junction organization, mitotic nuclear division and digestive tract development. The expression of 14 DEGs (such as PBK, C2CD4A and CXCL10) was correlated with tumor stages of colon cancer. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the expression of 139 DEGs (such as HSPA1A, CCDC136 and SEZ6L2) was related to the prognosis of patients with colon cancer. The prognosis prediction model constructed based on 35 DEGs could effectively estimate 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) of patients with colon cancer (AUC of 3- and 5-year OS were 0.816 and 0.897, respectively). In addition, the OS of high-risk patients was significantly poorer than that of low-risk patients. In conclusion, the present study identified multiple genes related to the development and prognosis of colon cancer, which would provide novel molecular targets for the diagnosis and therapy of colon cancer.