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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Genet.
Sec. Cancer Genetics and Oncogenomics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1443876
This article is part of the Research Topic Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Cancer: New Steps Towards Personalized Medicine View all 6 articles

Circular RNA Microarray Expression Profile and Potential Function of circDOCK1 in Colorectal Cancer

Provisionally accepted
Zhang Guojing Zhang Guojing wu xiaoyan wu xiaoyan *Fu hongmin Fu hongmin *Sun Daqing Sun Daqing *
  • Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Endoscopic tissue biopsy combined with histopathology is the gold standard for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the invasive nature of this procedure hinders its acceptance by patients. Therefore, there exists a critical need to identify novel markers facilitating early CRC detection and prognosis. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) hold promise as novel clinical diagnostic markers. This study aimed to investigate the impact of circDOCK1 on CRC metastasis and prognosis as well as its underlying molecular mechanisms. Methods: We explored circRNA expression profiles in four pairs of CRC tissues and adjacent non-carcinoma tissues via microarray analysis. After Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and circRNA-miRNA network analyses, circDOCK1 was chosen for further investigation. We evaluated its clinical relevance in 80 CRC tissue pairs and adjacent controls, correlating circDOCK1 expression with clinical characteristics. Follow-up data from patient telephone interviews were analyzed for survival outcomes. Transfection efficiency was confirmed via qRT-PCR in HCT116 and SW480 colon cells, and the effects of circDOCK1 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were assessed. Results: Microarray data revealed 149 significantly differentially expressed circRNAs, including 71 upregulated and 78 downregulated circRNAs, in CRC tissues. CircDOCK1 exhibited elevated expression in patients with CRC and emerged as an independent prognostic factor. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis suggested that circDOCK1 expression is an unfavorable prognostic factor in patients with CRC. In vivo experiments revealed that circDOCK1 overexpression enhanced the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells, with consistent results upon circDOCK1 downregulation. Conclusion: These data indicate that circDOCK1 may play a role in promoting the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells, suggesting its potential as a CRC biomarker.

    Keywords: CircDOCK1, Microarray Analysis, biomarker, colorectal cancer, Potential function

    Received: 04 Jun 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Guojing, xiaoyan, hongmin and Daqing. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    wu xiaoyan, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
    Fu hongmin, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
    Sun Daqing, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.