Open Access

ARTICLE

Transient receptor potential channels as predictive marker and potential indicator of chemoresistance in colon cancer

WEI HU^1,#, THOMAS WARTMANN^2,#, MARCO STRECKER², ARISTOTELIS PERRAKIS², ROLAND CRONER², ARPAD SZALLASI³, WENJIE SHI^2,*, ULF D. KAHLERT^2,*

1 The Fourth Clinical Medical College of Yangzhou University, Nantong Rich Hospital, Nantong, China
2 Molecular and Experimental Surgery, Clinic for General-, Visceral-, Vascular and Transplant Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Magdeburg, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
3 Department of Pathology and Experimental Cancer Research, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

* Corresponding Authors: WENJIE SHI. Email: ; ULF D. KAHLERT. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this work

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Transcriptome Analysis in Tumor Microenvironment and Tumor Heterogeneity)

Oncology Research 2024, 32(1), 227-239. https://doi.org/10.32604/or.2023.043053

Received 20 June 2023; Accepted 13 October 2023; Issue published 15 November 2023

Abstract

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are strongly associated with colon cancer development and progression. This study leveraged a multivariate Cox regression model on publicly available datasets to construct a TRP channels-associated gene signature, with further validation of signature in real world samples from our hospital treated patient samples. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed to evaluate this gene signature’s predictive accuracy and robustness in both training and testing cohorts, respectively. Additionally, the study utilized the CIBERSORT algorithm and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis to explore the signature’s immune infiltration landscape and underlying functional implications. The support vector machine algorithm was applied to evaluate the signature’s potential in predicting chemotherapy outcomes. The findings unveiled a novel three TRP channels-related gene signature (MCOLN1, TRPM5, and TRPV4) in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). The ROC and K-M survival curves in the training dataset (AUC = 0.761; p = 1.58e-05) and testing dataset (AUC = 0.699; p = 0.004) showed the signature’s robust predictive capability for the overall survival of COAD patients. Analysis of the immune infiltration landscape associated with the signature revealed higher immune infiltration, especially an increased presence of M2 macrophages, in high-risk group patients compared to their low-risk counterparts. High-risk score patients also exhibited potential responsiveness to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, evident through increased CD86 and PD-1 expression profiles. Moreover, the TRPM5 gene within the signature was highly expressed in the chemoresistance group (p = 0.00095) and associated with poor prognosis (p = 0.036) in COAD patients, highlighting its role as a hub gene of chemoresistance. Ultimately, this signature emerged as an independent prognosis factor for COAD patients (p = 6.48e-06) and expression of model gene are validated by public data and real-world patients. Overall, this bioinformatics study provides valuable insights into the prognostic implications and potential chemotherapy resistance mechanisms associated with TRPs-related genes in colon cancer.

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material File

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