Multi-Omics Reveal the Immunological Role and the Theragnostic Value of miR-216a/GDF15 Axis in Human Colon Adenocarcinoma

Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is the most common type of gastrointestinal cancer and is still the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Accurate screening tools for early diagnosis and prediction of prognosis and precision treatment strategies are urgently required to accommodate the unmet medical needs of COAD management. We herein aimed to explore the significance of the microRNA (miR)-216a/growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) axis in terms of clinical value, tumor immunity, and potential mechanisms in COAD by using multi-omic analysis. The gene expression levels of miR-216a and GDF15 showed an increase in the COAD group compared to those of the normal group. The expression of miR-216a presented a negative correlation with GDF15 in COAD tumor tissue. The use of an in vitro luciferase reporter assay and bioinformatic prediction revealed that miR-216a-3p acted toward translational inhibition on GDF15 by targeting its 3′untranslated region (UTR) site. High miR-216a expression was associated with decreased overall survival (OS), while the high expression of GDF15 was associated with increased OS. Enriched type 1 T-helper (Th1), enriched regulatory T (Treg), enriched eosinophils, and decreased nature killer T-cells (NKTs) in COAD tumor tissue may play counteracting factors on the tumor-regulatory effects of miR-216a and GDF15. In addition, high GDF15 expression had associations with suppressed immunoinhibitory genes and negative correlations with the infiltration of macrophages and endothelial cells. The enrichment analysis revealed that GDF15 and its co-expression network may be implicated in mitochondrial organization, apoptosis signaling, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response. The Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) and Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP) analysis identified that Gemcitabine acted as a precision treatment for COAD when GDF15 expression was low. This study supports the miR-216a/GDF15 axis as a diagnostic/prognostic panel for COAD, identifies Th1, Treg, eosinophils, and NKTs as counteracting factors, indicates potential relationships underlying immunomodulation, mitochondrial organization, apoptotic signaling, and ER stress and unveil Gemcitabine as a potential drug for the development of treatment strategy when combined with targeting GDF15.