Multi-platform-based characterization of ferroptosis in human colorectal cancer

Yafang Zhong; Wei Zhang; Haiyan Yu; Liewen Lin; Xucan Gao; Jingquan He; Dandan Li; Yumei Chen; Zhipeng Zeng; Yong Xu; Donge Tang; Yong Dai

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104750

Multi-platform-based characterization of ferroptosis in human colorectal cancer

iScience. 2022 Jul 15;25(8):104750. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104750. eCollection 2022 Aug 19.

Authors

Yafang Zhong¹, Wei Zhang^{2

1

3}, Haiyan Yu¹, Liewen Lin¹, Xucan Gao¹, Jingquan He¹, Dandan Li¹, Yumei Chen¹, Zhipeng Zeng¹, Yong Xu⁴, Donge Tang¹, Yong Dai¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Medical Research Center, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University (Shenzhen People's Hospital), Shenzhen 518020, China.
² Innovative Markers Department, Guangdong Fapon Biopharma Inc, Dongguan 523808, China.
³ Innovative Markers Department, Guangdong Fapon Biotech Inc, Dongguan 523808, China.
⁴ The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Ferroptosis is a type of programmed cell death potentially playing an important role in colorectal cancer (CRC) development. However, comprehensive investigations toward ferroptosis in human CRC are lacking. Here, we performed multiple investigations on cancer and para-cancer tissues. We demonstrated that the changes of structural variation and chromatin accessibility in CRC were more associated with the altered mRNA expression of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs), and the expression of CDKN2A, GPX4, ALOXE3, and LINC00336 was related to the overall survival rates. Subsequently, we revealed that CYBB and YAP1 were potentially the hub genes, and that HSF1 and STAT2 were potentially FRGs' upstream transcription factors. Finally, we depicted the crosstalk between ferroptosis and necrosis, autophagy, and apoptosis. Based on multi-dimensional analyses, we characterized ferroptosis, probable core genes, and the upstream regulators in human CRC. The findings here may improve our understanding of ferroptosis in CRC and provide new opportunities for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Bioinformatics; Biological sciences; Cancer; Oncology.