Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Nov 15, 2022; 14(11): 2108-2121
Published online Nov 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i11.2108
Potential role of long noncoding RNA RP5-881L22.5 as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target of colorectal cancer
Hua Zong, Jian-Qiang Zou, Jian-Peng Huang, Shi-Ting Huang
Hua Zong, Jian-Qiang Zou, Jian-Peng Huang, Shi-Ting Huang, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Zong H designed the project, wrote the paper and acquired the data; Zou JQ and Huang JP analyzed and interpreted the data; Huang ST modified the language of the article.
Supported by the Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, No. G2022117.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Shenzhen Third People's Hospital (Approval No. G2022117).
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in this work.
Data sharing statement: All data are publicly available for sharing use.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hua Zong, Doctor, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen, No. 29 Bulan Road, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong Province, China. zonghua@mail.sustech.edu.cn
Received: June 25, 2022
Peer-review started: June 25, 2022
First decision: August 30, 2022
Revised: September 13, 2022
Accepted: October 19, 2022
Article in press: October 19, 2022
Published online: November 15, 2022
Processing time: 142 Days and 21.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The incidence of colorectal cancer in humans is high, and it is in the top five for cancer-related morbidity and mortality. It is one of the main threats to human health. The function of long noncoding RNAs in tumor occurrence and development has gradually gained attention in recent years. In increasing numbers of studies, researchers have demonstrated that it plays an important role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer.

AIM

To find out if long noncoding RNA RP5-881L22.5 played a role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer in relation to the tumor microenvironment.

METHODS

We analyzed the transcriptome data and clinical data in The Cancer Genome Atlas-colon adenocarcinoma. The CIRBERSORT algorithm was applied to evaluate these tumor-infiltrating immune cells in The Cancer Genome Atlas-colon adenocarcinoma cancer tissue samples. Using the “estimate” package in R, we assessed the tumor immune microenvironment. The expression level of RP5-881L22.5 in tumor tissue and adjacent normal tissue samples from 4 pairs of colorectal cancer patients was determined by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Colorectal cancer cells were tested for invasiveness using a transwell invasion assay after RP5-881L22.5 expression was knocked down.

RESULTS

The expression of lncRNA RP5-881L22.5 was related to the clinical characteristics of the tumors, and it was negatively related to the infiltration level of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and the expression of T cell inhibitory receptors. A major function of its coexpressed mRNA was to regulate tumor immunity, such as the immune response. When quantitative reverse transcription PCR was performed on tumor tissues from 4 pairs of colorectal cancer patients, the results showed that RP5-881L22.5 was highly expressed. Subsequently, knocking down the expression of RP5-881L22.5, the invasiveness of colorectal cancer cell lines was reduced, and the apoptosis rate was increased.

CONCLUSION

RP5-881L22.5 plays a crucial role in the microenvironment of tumors as well as in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. The relationship between RP5-881L22.5 and the tumor immune microenvironment deserves further study.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Long noncoding RNA RP5-881L22.5; Tumor immune microenvironment; Biomarker; Therapeutic target

Core Tip: Long noncoding RNA RP5-881L22.5 is related to the clinical characteristics of tumors, and it is negatively related to the infiltration level of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and the expression of T cell inhibitory receptors. RP5-881L22.5 may play an important role in the tumor immune microenvironment as well as in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. The relationship between RP5-881L22.5 and the tumor immune microenvironment deserves further study.