Tissue microarray and liquid biopsy approaches identify EphB3, cMet, and miR-3168 as biomarkers of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a significant global health concern, and reliable biomarkers are needed to improve early diagnosis, prognostication, and personalized treatment strategies. This study investigated the expression of cell surface proteins and serum exosomal miRNAs in CRC patients. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) constructed from primary and metastatic CRC samples were analyzed for five cell surface proteins: EphB1, EphB3, EphA2, cMet, and EphB4. Immunohistochemistry was performed on the TMAs to validate their expression levels. We found that the distribution of expression for all four receptors, except EphA2, was significantly higher (p p p = 0.02). Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) suggested that miR-3168 may regulate cMet, EphB3, and EphB4, along with other CRC-associated molecules and pathways. These findings highlight the potential of EphB3 and cMet as biomarkers in CRC, and miR-3168 as a promising minimally-invasive biomarker for monitoring disease progression and therapeutic response. However, further validation in larger cohorts is needed to establish their clinical utility.