Abstract. The present study aimed to compare gene expression profiles between colorectal cancer and adjacent normal tissues, and to perform a preliminarily analysis of the key genes and underlying molecular mechanisms implicated in colorectal cancer development. Gene expression microarray chips were used to screen genes that were differently expressed between colorectal cancer and adjacent normal tissues. Approximately 1,183 genes were differentially expressed in cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues (P≤0.05; fold difference, >2.0), of which 570 genes were upregulated and 613 genes were downregulated. In total, 6 upregulated genes, including keratin 23, collagen type X α1, collagen type XI α1, cell migration-inducing hyaluronan-binding protein, transforming growth factor-β1 and V-Myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog, and 2 downregulated genes, including channel α subunit 7 and EPH receptor A7, were selected and validated using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, which exhibited results that were consistent with the microarray analysis. These 1,183 differentially expressed genes were further classified into 71 groups based on their functions using gene ontology and pathway analyses. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis of these upregulated or downregulated genes suggested that 23 signaling pathways were involved. The present study preliminarily screened for and identified key genes and signaling pathways that may be closely associated with colorectal cancer development. However, subsequent gene function studies are required to verify these findings.
IntroductionColorectal cancer (CRC) is a common gastrointestinal cancer and its global incidence is outranked only by gastric and esophageal cancers (1). There were ~14.1 million new cases of cancer globally in 2012, of which CRC accounted for 1.4 million and in China, was surpassed only by lung and breast cancers (2). In China, the incidence of CRC and its mortality rate have been ranked third and fourth, respectively among malignant tumors (3). Studies have demonstrated that China's annual incidence of CRC increases twice as fast compared with the global average (3,4). In Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, the incidence of colorectal cancer is 40/100,000 individuals (5); and a previous CRC survey program in Wuhan, Hubei province has reported a high incidence of 90/100,000 individuals, which is twice that of the national average (6). According to the National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, whose aim was to reduce the incidence of symptomatic CRC, the majority of patients present with symptoms to their general practitioner (7-9). An isolated symptom may be associated with CRC, but typically symptoms were observed in clusters. In total ≥1 high-risk symptoms are seen in ~85% of patients with CRC, who were referred to secondary care (10). However, symptoms for disease may be biased to a certain extent by 'selection phenomena', and this is the case to CRC (11). When performing diagnostic research in second...