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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1403008
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Novel Immunotherapy Targets and Combinational Immunotherapy in Breast and Gastrointestinal Cancers View all 9 articles

Identification and validation of Rab GTPases RAB13 as biomarkers for peritoneal metastasis and immune cell infiltration in colorectal cancer patients

Provisionally accepted
Fei Lv Fei Lv 1Xiaoqi Li Xiaoqi Li 2*Zhe Wang Zhe Wang 3Xiaobo Wang Xiaobo Wang 1*Jing Liu Jing Liu 1*
  • 1 Department of Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
  • 2 Department of Oncology, The People's Hospital of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
  • 3 Department of Digestive Diseases 1, Liaoning Cancer Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

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

    Background: As one of the most common cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC) is with high morbidity and mortality. Peritoneal metastasis (PM) is a fatal state of CRC, and few patients may benefit from traditional therapies. There is a complex interaction between PM and immune cell infiltration. Therefore, we aimed to determine biomarkers associated with colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis (CRCPM) and their relationship with immune cell infiltration. Methods: By informatic analysis, differently expressed genes (DEGs) were selected and hub genes were screened out. RAB13, one of the hub genes, was identificated from public databases and validated in CRC tissues. The ESTIMATE, CEBERSORT and TIMER algorithms were applied to analyze the correlation between RAB13 and immune infiltration in CRC. RAB13's expression in different cells were analyzed at the single-cell level in scRNA-Seq. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed for RAB13 enrichment and further confirmed. Using oncoPredict algorithm, RAB13's impact on drug sensitivity was evaluated. Results: High RAB13 expression was identified in public databases and led to a poor prognosis. RAB13 was found to be positively correlated with the macrophages and other immune cells infiltration and from scRNA-Seq, RAB13 was found to be located in CRC cells and macrophages. GSEA revealed that high RAB13 expression enriched in a various of biological signaling, and oncoPredict algorithm showed that RAB13 expression was correlated with paclitaxel sensitivity. Conclusion: Our study indicated clinical role of RAB13 in CRC-PM, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic target in the future.

    Keywords: colorectal cancer, Peritoneal metastasis, Rab13, macrophage, ScRNA-seq

    Received: 18 Mar 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lv, Li, Wang, Wang and Liu. 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:
    Xiaoqi Li, Department of Oncology, The People's Hospital of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
    Xiaobo Wang, Department of Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110004, Liaoning Province, China
    Jing Liu, Department of Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110004, Liaoning Province, 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.