The Expression and Effection of Mir-192-5p in Colorectal Cancer: A Bioinformatic Analysis

Abstract Background. Colorectal cancer (CRC), which remained the third most commonly diagnosed type of cancer globally, was in urgent need of a risk assessment method to determine an accurate treatment course. Recently, miRNA expression patterns have been identified as potential biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and personalized therapy. Here, we practically verified the clinical value of miR-192-5p and thoroughly explored its target genes as well as its potential functions in CRC. Methods. By Bioinformatic Analysis miR-192-5p was preliminarily deemed as potential biomarkers with CRC. To learn more about their relationship, we firstly investigated the expression of miR-192-5p in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and constructed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, baseline data sheet and Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves by R software. For further proving expression in tissual level, cancerous and adjacent non-cancerous tissues of 45 CRC patients were collected for analysis using reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). What’s more, miR-192-5p related cell function assays were also performed in cell lines, including transfection and scratch assays. Furthermore, we identified potential target genes, hub genes and Immune-associated cell for miR-192-5p from online datasets. Finally, A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and biological functions were constructed to analyze the prospective mechanisms of the predicted genes. Results. MiR-192-5p showed a significantly higher expression level in CRC tissues than adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was 0.969 (95% CI: 0.952–0.987, P < 0.001). The decreased mobility of the transfected group suggested that the overexpression of miR-192-5p may inhibit the migration of colon cancer cells. Significant correlations between miR-192-5p expression and clinicopathological features such as gender (P = 0.04), clinical TNM stage (P = 0.028), Vessel carcinoma embolus (P = 0.001), lymphatic metastasis (P = 0.002) and the CEA preoperatively (P = 0.028) were observed. To examine potential target genes, we obtained 93 genes for further function analysis and the PPI network indicated that KIF20A, TPX2, CDCA5, CCNB1, CDK1, PLP1 and NRXN1 were essential hub genes in the whole network. The GO and KEGG pathway annotation indicated synaptic membrane, glutamatergic synapse, and the Drug metabolism - cytochrome P450 pathway as significant prospective mechanisms. Meanwhile, miR-192-5p was highly involved in the process of immune infiltration and formation of pluralistic components in the above tumor.