Constructing a prognostic model for colon cancer: insights from immunity-related genes

BMC Cancer. 2024 Jun 24;24(1):758. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-12507-z.

Abstract

Background: Colon cancer (CC) is a malignancy associated with significant morbidity and mortality within the gastrointestinal tract. Recurrence and metastasis are the main factors affecting the prognosis of CC patients undergoing radical surgery; consequently, we attempted to determine the impact of immunity-related genes.

Result: We constructed a CC risk model based on ZG16, MPC1, RBM47, SMOX, CPM and DNASE1L3. Consistently, we found that a significant association was found between the expression of most characteristic genes and tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI) and neoantigen (NEO). Additionally, a notable decrease in RBM47 expression was observed in CC tissues compared with that in normal tissues. Moreover, RBM47 expression was correlated with clinicopathological characteristics and improved disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) among patients with CC. Lastly, immunohistochemistry and co-immunofluorescence staining revealed a clear positive correlation between RBM47 and CXCL13 in mature tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) region.

Conclusion: We conclude that RBM47 was identified as a prognostic-related gene, which was of great significance to the prognosis evaluation of patients with CC and was correlated with CXCL13 in the TLS region.

Keywords: CXCL13; Colon cancer; RBM47; Tertiary lymphoid structure; Tumor microenvironment.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Biomarkers, Tumor* / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor* / metabolism
  • Colonic Neoplasms* / genetics
  • Colonic Neoplasms* / immunology
  • Colonic Neoplasms* / mortality
  • Colonic Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Microsatellite Instability*
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation
  • Prognosis
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • RNA-Binding Proteins