The key miRNAs for metastasis and survival of colon adenocarcinoma

WGCNA (weighted gene co-expression network analysis) can provide a system-level insight into molecular interaction. To understand the co-expression pattern of miRNA in the progress of colon cancer development, this study constructed the WGCNA co-expression network to find the key microRNA of clinical significance and therefor provide possible personalized treatment targets. The miRNA expression data and clinical follow-up information of 442 valid colon cancer samples were obtained from TCGA. After the co-expression network was constructed, we found the turquoise module has the strongest correlation with stage IV. The miRNAs of the key module are enriched by GO and analyzed by KEGG, and the HUB-miRNAs are screened out through the network node degree. For clinical significance validation, data of 65 cases of colon cancer in GES29623 were analyzed by Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier, in 9 HUB-miRNAs, 2 miRNAs associated with overall survival rate were screened out. They can divide patients into high-risk group and low-risk group. Conclusion: has-miR-126-3p and has-miR-137 are the key miRNAs of COAD metastasis, they are of prognostic value in COAD.