RAE1 is a novel biomarker to improve clinical prediction in colorectal cancer liver metastasis: integrating bioinformatics analysis

Abstract

Background: Liver metastasis is common in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), and is correlated with poor outcome. It is crucial to target the key genes controlling pathogenesis in CRC liver metastasis. Methods: In this study, we performed an integrated bioinformatics analysis of four CRC liver metastasis mRNAs expression datasets from Gene Expression Ominus (GEO). The expression of RAE1 was validated in the independent validation sample cohort. We knocked down the expression of RAE1 in Colon cancer cells expressing high level RAE1, after which cell proliferation, migration, invasion were assayed. Xenograft mouse models were used to determine the role of RAE1 in CRC tumorigenicity in vivo. Results: RAE1 was demonstrated to be potentially useful diagnostic markers in the clinical setting. CRC liver metastasis with a high level of RAE1 in tumor tissues had significantly shortened survival as revealed by our CRC liver metastasis cohort. RAE1 knockdown in DLD1 and HCT116 cells repressed cell growth, invasion, and migration. Conclusions: We discovered a CRC liver metastasis-specific gene-RAE1,through intensive validation. RAE1 may function as a prognostic factor in CRC patients with liver metastasis. Keywords: RAE1, colorectal cancer (CRC), Prognosis, Biomarker, Liver metastasis