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Gene Expression Levels of Ferroptosis Suppressor Protein (FSP1) and Ferroptosis Inducer (ACSL4) and Their Correlation
Afsaneh Fardsanei1, Mohammad Taghi Goodarzi1, Shahram Agah2
1Department of Biochemistry Sha. C., Islamic Azad University Shahrood Iran.
Background And Aim:
Ferroptosis signaling pathway has been revealed to play a biological role in the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Our aim was to evaluate the expression pattern and clinical potentials of two ferroptosis-related genes FSP1 and ACSL4 in colorectal tumors.
Methods:
Thirty colorectal tumor tissues and thirty adjacent healthy tissues were subjected to gene expression study. Total RNA extraction from all tissues was completed and cDNA was synthesized from RNA. A qPCR was used for the gene expression analysis. Expression data were evaluated by SPSS software and the clinical importance of the genes was evaluated by ROC test.
Results:
Based on our results, the expression levels of ACSL4 gene in the tumor tissues significantly down-regulated compared to the healthy tissues (p = 0.0005). However, the expression levels of FSP1 did not show a significant difference in the tumor cancer tissues in comparison with the healthy tissues (p = 0.65). Furthermore, the expression levels of ACSL4 in CRC patients were reversely correlated with the high grade poorly differentiated tumors (p = 0.0003, r = -0.54). Analysis of the diagnostic value of ACSL4 using ROC test showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.6143-0.9229), with a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 60% (95% CI: 0.4060-0.7734) and a cut-off of 1.3.
Conclusion:
The expression levels of ACSL4, but not FSP1, increased significantly in colorectal tumor tissues in comparison with non-tumor healthy tissues. Based on clinical analysis, it was indicated that ACSL4 has clinical potentials as a diagnostic biomarker in CRC.