Data mining combined with experiments to validate CEP55 as a prognostic biomarker in colorectal cancer.

INTRODUCTION Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common tumor with high morbidity and mortality. Current specific diagnosis regarding CRC remains complicated and costly, and specific diagnostic biomarkers are lacking. METHODS To find potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for CRC, we screened and analyzed many CRC sequencing data by The Cancer Genome Atlas Program and Gene Expression Omnibus, and validated that CEP55 may be a potential diagnostic biomarker for CRC by molecular cytological experiments and immunohistochemistry, among others. RESULTS We found that CEP55 is upregulated in CRC tissues and tumor cells and can promote CRC proliferation and metastasis by activating the p53/p21 axis and that CEP55 mutations in tumor patients result in worse overall survival and disease-free survival time. Besides, we also found that genes, such as CDK1, CCNB1, NEK2, KIF14, CDCA5, and RFC3 were upregulated in tumors, and their mutations would affect the prognosis of CRC patients, but these results await for more experimental evidence. CONCLUSION Our study validates CEP55 as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for CRC, and we also provide multiple genes and potential molecular mechanisms that may serve as diagnostic and prognostic markers for CRC.