Extracellular vesicles (EVs) long RNAs (exLRs) have been shown to be indicators for the diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the dynamic changes of exLRs during perioperative period and their cellular sources in CRC remains largely unknown. In this study, exLR sequencing (exLR-seq) was performed on plasma samples from three CRC patients at four time points (before surgery [T0], after extubation [T1], 1 day after surgery [T2], and 3 days after surgery [T3]). Bioinformatics approaches were used to investigate the profile and biofunctions of exLRs and their cellular sources. Greater than 12,000 mRNAs and 2,000 lncRNAs were reliably detected in each exLR-seq sample. Compared with T0, there were 110 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in T1, 60 DEGs in T2, and 50 DEGs in T3. A total of 11 DEGs were found at all three time points and were related to membrane potential. In addition, compared to T0, 22 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELRs) were found in T1, 19 DELRs in T2, and 38 DELRs in T3. Moreover, only three DELRs were detected at all three time points. Interestingly, EVs from CD8 + T cells, CD4+ memory T cells and NK cells decreased after surgery and the absolute quantity of EVs from immune cells were reduced as well. In summary, this study was the first to characterize the dynamic changes of exLRs during perioperative period and the cellular sources. These findings established the foundation for further studies involving the effects of these dynamically changed exLRs on CRC.
Keywords: Extracellular vesicles; colorectal cancer; long RNA sequencing; perioperative period.