Comprehensive analysis of EMT-related genes and lncRNAs in the prognosis, immunity, and drug treatment of colorectal cancer

Abstract Background: EMT is an important biological process in the mechanism of tumor metastasis. However, there are still many unknowns about the specific mechanism of EMT. At present, a comprehensive analysis of EMT-related genes in colorectal cancer (CRC) is still lacking. Methods: All the data were downloaded to public databases including TCGA as a training set and GEO as a validation set. Bioinformatics methods were used to analyze the correlation between EMT-related genes (EMT-RDGs) and CRC prognosis, metastasis, drug efficacy and immunity.Results: We finally obtained 9 prognostic-related EMT-RDGs (FGF8, NOG, PHLDB2, SIX2, SNAI1, TBX5, TIAM1, TWIST1, TCF15) through differential expression analysis, Unicox and Lasso regression analysis, and then constructed a risk prognosis model. There were significant differences in clinical characteristics, 22 immune cells and immune functions between the high and low-risk groups and the different states of the 9 prognostic-related EMT-RDGs. The methylation level and mutation status of 9 prognostic-related EMT-RDGs all affect their regulation of EMT. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was also constructed by the methylation sites of 9 prognostic-related EMT-RDGs. In addition, The expression of FGF8, PHLDB2, SIX2 and SNAIL was higher and the expression level of NOG and TWIST1 was lower in the non-metastasis CRC group. 9 prognostic-related EMT-RDGs also affected the drug treatment response of CRC. Conclusions: Targeting these 9 prognostic-related EMT-RDGs can regulate CRC metastasis and immune, which is beneficial to the prognosis of CRC patients, improve drug sensitivity in CRC patients.