Construction of CeRNA regulatory network based on WGCNA reveals diagnosis biomarkers for colorectal cancer

Abstract

Abstract Background Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of death among cancers in the world. Although improvements in various treatments have greatly improved the survival time of colorectal cancer patients, since colorectal cancer is often at an advanced stage when diagnosed, the prognosis of patients is still very poor. Since the ceRNA regulatory network was proposed in 2011, it has greatly promoted the study of the molecular mechanism of colorectal cancer occurrence and development. Objective Exploring the new molecular mechanism of colorectal cancer occurrence and development and providing new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. Method We analyzed the RNA-seq data of CRC from TCGA, such as differential expression analysis, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and construction of ceRNA regulatory network. Results We constructed a ceRNA network using RNA-seq data of CRC from TCGA. In the ceRNA regulatory network, 19 hub molecules with significant prognostic effects were ultimately identified, including 8 lncRNAs, 2 mRNAs and 9 miRNAs. These hub molecules constitute the lncRNA-miRNA, miRNA-mRNA or lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA axis. Conclusion In this article, some new ceRNA regulatory axes have been discovered, which may potentially disclose new molecular mechanisms for the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer, thereby providing an important blueprint for the treatment and prognosis assessment of CRC patients.

Keywords

• ceRNA
• Colorectal cancer
• WGCNA
• Network
• Targets
• TCGA