Identification of EDNRA as the Key Biomarker for Hypercholesterolemia and Colorectal Cancer

Identification of EDNRA as the Key Biomarker for Hypercholesterolemia and Colorectal Cancer

Kedong Han,¹ Zhijiang He,² Yunjun Liu² and Hua Chen²

¹Department of Cardiology, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, China
²Department of Oncology, Maoming People's Hospital, Maoming, Guangdong, China

Some studies have investigated the role of cholesterol in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the underlying mechanism of action is not clear. In this study, we used bioinformatics tools to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved. We initially obtained CRC datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and hypercholesterolemia data from GeneCards and DisGeNE. Common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined by using Venn diagram web tools. Next, we performed Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses using the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). The hub gene was identified through common expression pattern analysis and survival analysis. Finally, we conducted an immune regulatory point analysis and predicted target drugs based on the hub gene. The results of our analysis revealed 13 common DEGs, with endothelin receptor type A (EDNRA) identified as the hub gene linking hypercholesterolemia and CRC. The results of the GO analysis showed that the common DEGs were primarily associated with the G-protein coupled receptor signaling pathway, extracellular space, and receptor binding. The results of the KEGG pathway enrichment analysis indicated enrichment in pathways related to cancer and the phospholipase D signaling pathway. Additionally, we identified potential target drugs, including Podocarpus montanus, Diospyros kaki, Herba Salviae japoniae, sitaxentan, and ambrisentan. We found that EDNRA might be an underlying biomarker for both hypercholesterolemia and CRC. The predicted target drugs provide new strategies for treating CRC.

Key words —— biomarker; colorectal cancer; EDNRA; hypercholesterolemia

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2024 March, 262(3), 181-189.

*These two authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence: Hua Chen, Department of Oncology, Maoming People's Hospital, No.101, Jiangkang South Road, Maonan District, Maoming, Guangdong Province 525000, China.

e-mail address: chen1hua@163.com