Aim: To identify prognostic biomarkers in colorectal cancer (CRC) using an integrative systems biology approach combining transcriptomics, network topology, and immune profiling. Background: Advanced CRC prognosis remains poor due to a lack of biomarkers capturing tumor-immune interactions. Current single-gene markers often overlook the network-based nature of tumorigenesis. Methods: We analyzed TCGA-COAD data (n = 463 tumor, n = 85 normal) using GEPIA3 with thresholds of |log₂FC| > 2 and adjusted p. value 0. 4) and GeneMANIA. Hub genes were prioritized by intersecting degree and betweenness centrality using Cytoscape. Prognosis was assessed using cSurvival (Kaplan-Meier) and immune correlations via TISDB. Protein expression was verified in the Human Protein Atlas and external validation was performed to justify accuracy of candidate biomarkers. Results: (p = 0. 039) expression predicted poor prognosis. Both positively correlated with innate immune cells (NKT/NK cells) but negatively with activated CD4+ T cells, suggesting immune exclusion. Conclusion: are novel dual prognostic biomarkers linking stromal remodeling to immunosuppression in CRC. High tissue expression serves as a marker of desmoplastic stroma and poor survival, emphasizing context-dependent biomarker evaluation.
Judaki et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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