Colorectal cancer has a poor prognosis and is prone to recurrence and metastasis. DPP7, a prolyl peptidase, is reported to regulate lymphocyte quiescence. However, the correlation of DPP7 with prognosis in CRC remains unclear. With publicly available cohorts, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and logistic regression were employed to analyze the relationship between DPP7 expression and the clinicopathological features of CRC patients. Specific pathways of differentially expressed genes were determined through biofunctional analysis and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). qPCR and immunohistochemical staining were used to determine DPP7 expression levels in surgical specimens. The public dataset and analysis of the biospecimens of CRC patients revealed that DPP7, in the CRC samples, was expressed significantly higher than in non-tumor tissues. Moreover, increased DPP7 was significantly associated with a higher N stage, lymphatic invasion, and shorter overall survival. Functionally, DPP7 is involved in neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction and olfactory transduction signaling. We identified a series of targeted drugs and small-molecule drugs with responses to DPP7. To conclude, DPP7 is a valuable diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for CRC and considered as a new therapeutic target.
结直肠癌预后不良，且易复发和转移。据报道，脯氨酰肽酶DPP7能调节淋巴细胞静息状态，但其与结直肠癌预后的相关性尚不明确。本研究利用公开队列数据，采用Wilcoxon秩和检验与逻辑回归分析DPP7表达与结直肠癌患者临床病理特征的关系；通过生物功能分析和基因集富集分析确定差异表达基因的特异性通路；采用qPCR和免疫组化染色检测手术标本中DPP7的表达水平。公共数据集及结直肠癌患者生物样本分析显示，DPP7在癌组织中的表达显著高于非肿瘤组织，且其高表达与较高的N分期、淋巴侵袭及较短的总生存期显著相关。在功能上，DPP7参与神经活性配体-受体相互作用及嗅觉转导信号通路。我们筛选出一系列对DPP7有响应的靶向药物及小分子药物。综上，DPP7可作为结直肠癌有价值的诊断与预后生物标志物，并被视为新的治疗靶点。
Integrated Analysis Identifies DPP7 as a Prognostic Biomarker in Colorectal Cancer
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家