Screening and regulatory network analysis of survival-related genes of patients with colorectal cancer.

The purpose of this study was to screen key survival-related genes from patients with colorectal cancer and explore signal transduction network of the involved genes. In a previous study, survival-related genes of patients with colorectal cancer were selected by colorectal cancer-related expression data GSE17538 using the Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM3.01) software, and 235 genes related to the survival of patients with colorectal cancer were obtained. Therefore, the following screening and analysis were conducted on these 235 genes in this study. First, the enrichment analysis of transcription factor binding sites was conducted on the 235 genes. Genes with more than seven transcription factor binding sites were screened. Then, these genes and upregulated genes in colorectal cancer were intersected. Finally, survival analysis and regulatory network analysis were conducted on the screened genes. This allowed clarification of the relationship between these genes and the survival of patients with colorectal cancer and the signaling network involving these genes in the cell signal transduction network of colorectal cancer. Through the above analysis, six upregulated genes in colorectal cancer related to the survival of colorectal cancer patients and highly regulated by transcription factors were selected, namely STX2, PODXL, KLK6, GRB10, EHBP1 and CREB5. These genes are involved in signal regulatory networks related to colorectal cancer metastasis-related signaling pathways. Therefore, the survival of patients with colorectal cancer is closely correlated with colorectal cancer metastasis. The six survival-related genes affect the survival of patients by regulating colorectal cancer metastasis-associated signaling pathways.