Identification of biomarker microRNAs for predicting the response of colorectal cancer to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy based on microRNA regulatory network

Preoperative radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy has become a standard procedure for treatment of patients with locally advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). However, patients’ responses to treatment are different and personalized. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are promising biomarkers for predicting personalized responses. In this study, we collected 30 publicly reported miRNAs associated with chemoradiotherapy of CRC. We extracted 46 differentially expressed miRNAs from samples of responders and non-responders to preoperative radiotherapy from the Gene Expression Omnibus dataset (Student's t test, p-value < 0.05 and |fold-change| > 2). We performed a systematic and integrative bioinformatics analysis to identify biomarker miRNAs for prediction of CRC responses to chemoradiotherapy. Using the bioinformatics model, miR-198, miR-765, miR-671-5p, miR-630, miR-371-5p, miR-575, miR-202, miR-483-5p and miR-513a-5p were screened as putative biomarkers for treatment response. Literature validation and functional enrichment analysis were exploited to confirm the reliability of the predicted miRNAs. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that seven of the candidates were significantly differentially expressed between radiosensitive and insensitive CRC cell lines. The unique target genes of miR-198 and miR-765 were altered significantly upon transfection of specific miRNA mimics in the radiosensitive cell line. These results demonstrated the predictive power of our model and suggested that miR-198, miR-765, miR-630, miR-371-5p, miR-575, miR-202 and miR-513a-5p could be used for predicting the response of CRC to preoperative chemoradiotherapy.