Identification of methyltransferase-like protein 11B as a new prognostic biomarker for colorectal cancer through an analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas.

Abstract

This study had the goal of investigating whether an association exists between the prognosis of patients with colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio/prealbumin ratio (NLR/PA) and methyltransferase-like protein 11B (METTL11B) expression. First, the differentially expressed gene METTL11B was screened in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and the expression of METTL11B was verified in the GEPIA (Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis) and TCGA databases. The clinical information of 100 patients who underwent CRC surgery at Jiangsu Cancer Hospital was retrospectively evaluated. Immunohistochemistry was used to further analyze METTL11B expression in CRC tissues from the patients. Patients were monitored for 3 years to assess survival. The Kaplan-Meier technique and log-rank test were employed for single-factor survival analysis; for multifactor analysis, the Cox regression approach was adopted. Nomograms were built for internal verification. METTL11B expression was higher in cancer tissues than in neighboring normal tissues. Significant differences were observed regarding body weight reduction, CA199, serum albumin, chemotherapy use, and the incidence of vascular cancer thrombus between the low and high METTL11B expression groups (all P<0.05). After 3 years of follow-up, 69 patients were alive and 31 patients had died, translating to a 31.0% mortality rate. The progression-free and overall survival of the low METTL11B expression and low NLR/PA groups were significantly superior to those of the high METTL11B expression and high NLR/PA groups, respectively (all P<0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed NLR/PA and METTL11B to be independent risk factors for CRC development, and tumor size and chemotherapy also had independent effects on CRC development. Our nomograms' c-index was 0.8493, indicating a reasonable accuracy of the prediction model. Increases in NLR/PA and METTL11B expression are linked to a poor prognosis of CRC. NLR/PA combined with METTL11B has a certain prognostic value for CRC. Moreover, METTL11B has the potential to be a new predictive biomarker and therapeutic target for individuals with this disease.