结直肠肛门外科 (Jun 2022)

Prognostic genes in colon cancer and their correlation with immune cells: an analysis based on bioinformatics

  • Gu Zhiwen,
  • Wu Yinteng,
  • Liao Cun,
  • Ma Hui,
  • Zhang Sen,
  • Zhang Xiaolong

DOI
https://doi.org/10.19668/j.cnki.issn1674-0491.2022.03.013
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 28, no. 3
pp. 255 – 260

Abstract

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[Objectives] To identify prognostic genes in colon cancer and their correlation with immune cells. [Methods] Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The R clusterprofile package was used for functional enrichment analysis. The prognosis-related genes were screened and their expression was verified by qPCR. Cibersort algorithm was used to analyze the correlation between prognostic genes and immune cells. [Results] Data sets of GSE21510, GSE18105 and GSE20916 were analyzed and intersected, and 50 co-up-regulated DEGs and 130 co-down-regulated DEGs were obtained, namely 180 intersecting genes were obtained. In terms of GO functional enrichment, intersecting genes were mainly enriched in biological processes (BP) such as cell reaction to inorganic substances, zinc ion reaction, cell zinc ion homeostasis, copper ion detoxification, and stress response to copper ion. In terms of cell composition (CC), the intersecting genes were mainly concentrated in the apical part of cells, apical plasma membrane, lateral plasma membrane, basal plasma membrane, etc. In terms of molecular function (MF), the intersecting genes are mainly enriched in ion transmembrane transporter activity, G-protein-coupled receptor binding, metal peptidase activity, carboxylic acid transmembrane transporter activity, etc. In terms of KEGG functional enrichment, the intersecting genes were mainly involved in mineral absorption, bile secretion, interaction between virus proteins and cytokines and cytokine receptors, PPAR signaling pathway, etc. GCNT2 was associated with colon cancer prognosis and had low expression in colon cancer. Analysis of correlation with immune cells showed that GCNT2 was positively correlated with naive B cells, regulatory T cells, activated natural killer cells, and follicular helper T cells while negatively correlated with resting natural killer cells. [Conclusion] GCNT2 is associated with the prognosis of colon cancer. It may also be involved in the development of colon cancer via regulating the activity of immune cells.

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