López-Camacho Elena, Prado-Vázquez Guillermo, Martínez-Pérez Daniel, Ferrer-Gómez María, Llorente-Armijo Sara, López-Vacas Rocío, Díaz-Almirón Mariana, Gámez-Pozo Angelo, Vara Juan Ángel Fresno, Feliu Jaime, Trilla-Fuertes Lucía
Molecular Oncology Lab, La Paz University Hospital-IdiPAZ, Paseo de la Castellana 261, 28046 Madrid, Spain.
Biomedica Molecular Medicine SL, C/Faraday 7, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
Cancers (Basel). 2023 Feb 9;15(4):1104. doi: 10.3390/cancers15041104.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a molecular and clinically heterogeneous disease. In 2015, the Colorectal Cancer Subtyping Consortium classified CRC into four consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), but these CMS have had little impact on clinical practice. The purpose of this study is to deepen the molecular characterization of CRC. A novel approach, based on probabilistic graphical models (PGM) and sparse k-means-consensus cluster layer analyses, was applied in order to functionally characterize CRC tumors. First, PGM was used to functionally characterize CRC, and then sparse k-means-consensus cluster was used to explore layers of biological information and establish classifications. To this aim, gene expression and clinical data of 805 CRC samples from three databases were analyzed. Three different layers based on biological features were identified: adhesion, immune, and molecular. The adhesion layer divided patients into high and low adhesion groups, with prognostic value. The immune layer divided patients into immune-high and immune-low groups, according to the expression of immune-related genes. The molecular layer established four molecular groups related to stem cells, metabolism, the Wnt signaling pathway, and extracellular functions. Immune-high patients, with higher expression of immune-related genes and genes involved in the viral mimicry response, may benefit from immunotherapy and viral mimicry-related therapies. Additionally, several possible therapeutic targets have been identified in each molecular group. Therefore, this improved CRC classification could be useful in searching for new therapeutic targets and specific therapeutic strategies in CRC disease.
结直肠癌(CRC)是一种分子和临床异质性疾病。2015年,结直肠癌亚型联盟将CRC分为四种共识分子亚型(CMS),但这些CMS对临床实践影响甚微。本研究的目的是深化CRC的分子特征。一种基于概率图形模型(PGM)和稀疏k均值共识聚类层分析的新方法被应用于对CRC肿瘤进行功能表征。首先,使用PGM对CRC进行功能表征,然后使用稀疏k均值共识聚类来探索生物信息层并建立分类。为此,分析了来自三个数据库的805个CRC样本的基因表达和临床数据。基于生物学特征确定了三个不同的层:黏附、免疫和分子层。黏附层将患者分为高黏附和低黏附组,具有预后价值。免疫层根据免疫相关基因的表达将患者分为免疫高和免疫低组。分子层建立了与干细胞、代谢、Wnt信号通路和细胞外功能相关的四个分子组。免疫高的患者,其免疫相关基因和参与病毒模拟反应的基因表达较高,可能从免疫治疗和病毒模拟相关治疗中获益。此外,在每个分子组中都确定了几个可能的治疗靶点。因此,这种改进的CRC分类可能有助于寻找CRC疾病的新治疗靶点和特定治疗策略。