Charged multivesicular body protein 7 was identified as a prognostic biomarker correlated with metastasis in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Metastasis is the main reason leading to death in colorectal cancer (CRC) and about 25% of CRC patients developed metastasis when first diagnosed. Thus, unveiling biomarkers of CRC metastasis is of great significance. AIM: To reveal biomarkers of CRC metastasis. METHODS: Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was conducted to identify metastatic biomarkers in CRC through a systematic analysis of the GSE29621 dataset. Comprehensive validation was performed subsequently using publicly available datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus and supplemented with experimental verification in CRC cell lines. Moreover, the identified hub gene charged multivesicular body protein 7 (CHMP7) was further subjected to clinical correlation analysis via Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis to assess its prognostic significance and potential mechanistic involvement in CRC progression. RESULTS: CHMP7 was identified as a key metastatic biomarker of CRC which displayed lower expression in CRC tissues, especially in CRC patients with metastasis and CRC cell lines with high metastasis potential. The expression of CHMP7 was significantly correlated with normal, metastatic tumor, pathologic stage, and lymphatic invasion (P < 0.05). CRC patients with higher expression of CHMP7 exhibited better overall survival. Besides, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis results showed that CHMP7 might be involved in metastatic related pathways. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that CHMP7 might be a prognostic biomarker correlated with CRC metastasis.