Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is widely recognized for its high prevalence and significant mortality rates, and purine metabolism has been serving as a potential therapeutic target. However, purine metabolism has not yet been validated as a prognostic marker through immunohistochemical analysis. In this s...

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Main Authors: Sungyeon Kim, Myunghee Kang, Soyeon Jeong, Jisup Kim, Kyoung Oh Kim, Won‐Suk Lee, Jeong‐Heum Baek, Jung Ho Kim, Seungyoon Nam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-08-01
Series:Molecular Oncology
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.70010
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author Sungyeon Kim
Myunghee Kang
Soyeon Jeong
Jisup Kim
Kyoung Oh Kim
Won‐Suk Lee
Jeong‐Heum Baek
Jung Ho Kim
Seungyoon Nam
author_facet Sungyeon Kim
Myunghee Kang
Soyeon Jeong
Jisup Kim
Kyoung Oh Kim
Won‐Suk Lee
Jeong‐Heum Baek
Jung Ho Kim
Seungyoon Nam
author_sort Sungyeon Kim
collection DOAJ
description Colorectal cancer (CRC) is widely recognized for its high prevalence and significant mortality rates, and purine metabolism has been serving as a potential therapeutic target. However, purine metabolism has not yet been validated as a prognostic marker through immunohistochemical analysis. In this study, we utilized a combination of bulk transcriptome analysis, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) to assess the clinical relevance of purine metabolism in CRC. Low expression levels of five purine metabolism‐related genes—ADSL, APRT, ADCY3, NME3, and NME6—were associated with worse prognosis in CRC patient subgroups, including wild‐type TP53, mutant TP53, and microsatellite‐stable phenotypes. IHC‐based validation showed that NME3 expression was an independent prognostic factor, whereas ADSL and NME6 expressions were associated with clinical variables in prediction of prognosis. Notably, NME3 expression predicted a high risk in patients with early‐stage CRC, while ADSL and NME6 expressions were predictive in late‐stage CRC. scRNA‐seq analysis showed that four genes, excluding NME6, had low expression levels in epithelial cells at the late‐stage CRC. Despite the reversible nature of purine metabolism reactions, we demonstrated a consistent directional expression of these five prognostic purine metabolism‐related proteins in CRC tissues. We suggest that alterations in purine metabolism could serve as a clinically useful prognostic marker in CRC.
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spelling doaj-art-b4955e6149aa4b24a3f036c8ba4308af2025-08-20T02:58:23ZengWileyMolecular Oncology1574-78911878-02612025-08-011982310232910.1002/1878-0261.70010Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysisSungyeon Kim0Myunghee Kang1Soyeon Jeong2Jisup Kim3Kyoung Oh Kim4Won‐Suk Lee5Jeong‐Heum Baek6Jung Ho Kim7Seungyoon Nam8Department of Genome Medicine and Science, Gachon Institute of Genome Medicine and Science, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Pathology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Pathology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Surgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Surgery, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaDepartment of Genome Medicine and Science, Gachon Institute of Genome Medicine and Science, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University College of Medicine Gachon University Incheon KoreaColorectal cancer (CRC) is widely recognized for its high prevalence and significant mortality rates, and purine metabolism has been serving as a potential therapeutic target. However, purine metabolism has not yet been validated as a prognostic marker through immunohistochemical analysis. In this study, we utilized a combination of bulk transcriptome analysis, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) to assess the clinical relevance of purine metabolism in CRC. Low expression levels of five purine metabolism‐related genes—ADSL, APRT, ADCY3, NME3, and NME6—were associated with worse prognosis in CRC patient subgroups, including wild‐type TP53, mutant TP53, and microsatellite‐stable phenotypes. IHC‐based validation showed that NME3 expression was an independent prognostic factor, whereas ADSL and NME6 expressions were associated with clinical variables in prediction of prognosis. Notably, NME3 expression predicted a high risk in patients with early‐stage CRC, while ADSL and NME6 expressions were predictive in late‐stage CRC. scRNA‐seq analysis showed that four genes, excluding NME6, had low expression levels in epithelial cells at the late‐stage CRC. Despite the reversible nature of purine metabolism reactions, we demonstrated a consistent directional expression of these five prognostic purine metabolism‐related proteins in CRC tissues. We suggest that alterations in purine metabolism could serve as a clinically useful prognostic marker in CRC.https://doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.70010colorectal cancerimmunohistochemistrypurine metabolismsurvival
spellingShingle Sungyeon Kim
Myunghee Kang
Soyeon Jeong
Jisup Kim
Kyoung Oh Kim
Won‐Suk Lee
Jeong‐Heum Baek
Jung Ho Kim
Seungyoon Nam
Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis
Molecular Oncology
colorectal cancer
immunohistochemistry
purine metabolism
survival
title Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis
title_full Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis
title_fullStr Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis
title_full_unstemmed Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis
title_short Elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic, immunohistochemical, and single‐cell RNA sequencing analysis
title_sort elucidating prognostic significance of purine metabolism in colorectal cancer through integrating data from transcriptomic immunohistochemical and single cell rna sequencing analysis
topic colorectal cancer
immunohistochemistry
purine metabolism
survival
url https://doi.org/10.1002/1878-0261.70010
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