Identification of a Recurrence-Specific CircRNA Signature in Human Colorectal Cancer. Homo sapiens

Current staging methods do not accurately predict the risk of disease recurrence and benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients who have had surgery for stageⅡ/Ⅲ colon cancer. We postulated that expression patterns of multiple mi circular RNAs (circRNAs) could, if combined into a single model, improve postoperative risk stratification and prediction of chemotherapy benefit for these patients. Using RNA sequencing, we analysed 20 paired stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ colon cancer tumours (10 recurrence vs 10 non-recurrence after 5 years) and adjacent normal mucosa tissues, and identified 88 circRNAs that were differentially expressed between tumours and normal tissue. We further identified 4 cirRNAs based on statistical models. Based on the result, our four-circRNA-based classifier is a reliable prognostic and predictive tool for disease recurrence in patients with stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ colon cancer, and might be able to predict which patients benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. It might facilitate patient counseling and individualise management of patients with this disease.