Ye Meng-Ling, Li Si-Qi, Yin Yi-Xin, Li Ke-Zhi, Li Ji-Lin, Hu Bang-Li
Department of Research, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, China.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022 Jun 3;10:817509. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.817509. eCollection 2022.
Cancer stem cells play crucial roles in colorectal cancer (CRC) tumorigenesis and treatment response. This study aimed to determine the value of the mRNA stemness index (mRNAsi) in CRC and introduce a stemness-related classification to predict the outcome of patients. mRNAsi scores and RNA sequence data of CRC patients were analyzed. We found that high mRNAsi scores were related to early-stage CRC and a better patient prognosis. Two stemness-based subtypes (subtype I and II) were identified. Patients in subtype I presented a significantly better prognosis than those in subtype II. Patients in these two subtype groups presented significantly different tumor immunity scores and immune cell infiltration patterns. Genomic variations revealed that patients in subtype I had a lower tumor mutation burden than those in subtype II. A three-gene stemness subtype predictor was established, showing good diagnostic value in discriminating patients in different subtypes. A prognostic signature based on five stemness-related genes was established and validated in two independent cohorts and clinical samples, showing a better predictive performance than other clinical parameters. We concluded that mRNAsi scores were associated with the clinical outcome in CRC patients. The stemness-related classification was a promising prognostic predictor for CRC patients.
癌症干细胞在结直肠癌（CRC）的肿瘤发生和治疗反应中起着关键作用。本研究旨在确定mRNA干性指数（mRNAsi）在CRC中的价值，并引入一种与干性相关的分类方法来预测患者的预后。分析了CRC患者的mRNAsi评分和RNA序列数据。我们发现高mRNAsi评分与早期CRC和更好的患者预后相关。确定了两种基于干性的亚型（亚型I和II）。亚型I的患者预后明显优于亚型II的患者。这两个亚型组的患者表现出明显不同的肿瘤免疫评分和免疫细胞浸润模式。基因组变异显示，亚型I的患者肿瘤突变负担低于亚型II的患者。建立了一个三基因干性亚型预测模型，在区分不同亚型的患者方面显示出良好的诊断价值。基于五个与干性相关基因的预后特征在两个独立队列和临床样本中建立并验证，显示出比其他临床参数更好的预测性能。我们得出结论，mRNAsi评分与CRC患者的临床结局相关。与干性相关的分类是CRC患者有前景的预后预测指标。
