1. Introduction
colorectal cancer, tumor, Tumor, CRC, malignant cancer, cancer, TCGA, deaths, Cancer
COLORECTAL CANCER, INFILTRATION, TUMOR, TUMOR, CANCER, CANCER
It’s well known that N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is the most abundant modification in multiple RNA species. miRNAs play important roles in m6A modification and are closely related with occurrence and development of colorectal cancer (CRC). Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the prognostic value of m6A-related miRNAs and explore the correlation between the miRNAs and immune microenvironment in CRC. The differentially expressed m6A regulators and differentially expressed miRNAs between CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were identified based on TCGA dataset, and the m6A-related miRNAs were screened. The CRC patients from TCGA were randomized (1:1) into training set and validation set, and the risk score was established in the training set. Next, risk score was verified in the validation set and GSE92928 from GEO datasets. Besides, the relationship among tumor mutational burden, immune microenvironment and risk score were analyzed. What’s more, RT-qPCR were used to explore the expression levels of the miRNAs in risk score between SW480 and SW620. A total of 29 m6A-related miRNAs were screened out, and a 5-differentially expressed miRNAs risk score was established. Kaplan–Meier analysis and ROC curves revealed the risk score could predict the prognosis of CRC, accurately. Similarly, the patients in the high-risk group had shorter overall survival in GSE92928. The risk score was relevant with the tumor mutational burden and immune infiltration, and the expression of HAVCR2 was significant difference between 2 risk groups. The expression levels of miR-328-3p, miR-3934-5p, miR-664b-5p and miR-3677-3p were down-regulated in SW620 compared with SW480, only the expression level of miR-200c-5p was up-regulated in SW620. The findings provided the new insights into the correlation between miRNAs and m6A regulators. The m6A-related miRNAs could predict the prognosis of CRC and provide the valuable information of immunotherapy in CRC patients.As one of the most common malignant cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second cause of tumor related deaths worldwide according to the global cancer statistics.N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification was first detected in 1970s, which is the methylation of the sixth N atom of adenosine in mRNAs or ncRNAs.MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to the noncoding RNA family, which contain 19-25 nucleotides.In present study, the m6A-related miRNAs were identified and a novel risk score was established based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Tumor mutational burden (TMB) and immune checkpoint genes were found to be associated with risk score. The relationship between the risk score and immune microenvironment was also assessed with ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithm. Otherwise, drug resistance between different risk score groups were further explored.