Multiomics Approach Identifies Key Proteins and Regulatory Pathways in Colorectal Cancer

The prevalence rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) has dramatically increased in recent decades. However, robust CRC biomarkers with therapeutic value for early diagnosis are still lacking. To comprehensively reveal the molecular characteristics of CRC development, we employed a multiomics strategy to investigate eight different types of CRC samples. Proteomic analysis revealed 2022 and 599 differentially expressed tissue proteins between CRC and control groups in CRC patients and CRC mice, respectively. In patients with colorectal precancerous lesions, 25 and 34 significantly changed proteins were found between patients and healthy controls in plasma and white blood cells, respectively. Notably, vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein A (VAPA) was found to be consistently and significantly decreased in most types of CRC samples, and its level was also significantly correlated with increased overall survival of CRC patients. Furthermore, 37 significantly enriched pathways in CRC were further validated via metabolomics analysis. Ten VAPA-related pathways were found to be significantly enriched in CRC samples, among which PI3K-Akt signaling, central carbon metabolism in cancer, cholesterol metabolism, and ABC transporter pathways were also enriched in the premalignant stage. Our study identified VAPA and its associated pathways as key regulators, suggesting their potential applications in the early diagnosis and prognosis of CRC.