Bioinformatic analysis of autophagy-related genes for prognosis, malignancy and immune phenotype of colorectal cancer

Abstract Background: Autophagy plays a non-negligible role in carcinogenesis by maintaining a proper cancer microenvironment to provide nutritional supplements. This study aimed to explore the association between autophagy-related genes (ARGs) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Material and Methods: Public data profiles were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases: GSE39582 set. In the TCGA cohort, 7 ARGs were selected to construct the prognostic risk score model for the prognosis of CRC patients. Based on the median value of risk scores, patients were divided into low- and high- risk score groups (p=4.393e−06). And the prognostic value of the model was further validated in the GEO cohort and the pooled cohort. Results: In addition to prognosis, autophagy was also related to malignancy, chemotherapy resistance, as well as immune type of CRC. Furthermore, a nomogram, including the prognostic risk score model and clinical characteristics, was developed for quantifying the overall survival probability of CRC patients. Finally, some drugs/compounds including semagacestat, pentostatin, DNMDP, as well as bexarotene, were predicted as potential drugs for CRC treatment based on CTRP and PRISM database. Conclusion: These would assist CRC patients with improving their prognosis.