• Computational identification of potential therapeutic targets for colorectal diseases
  • Mojde Mirmohamadi,1 Anvarsadat Kianmehr,2 Zahra Bazi,3,*
    1. Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Science
    2. Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Science
    3. Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Golestan University of Medical Science


  • Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third-leading cancer worldwide, and is the second-leading cause of cancer mortality. It is associated with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as it can be accelerated by consecutive cell cycle of epithelial damaging and repairing. These are known as the common important features of CRC and IBD. Therefore, we intended to design an in silico approach to identify shared therapeutic targets which may work for all of these conditions.
  • Methods: Microarray data for IBD and CRC were extracted from “GEO” database (GSE41258 and GSE75214). All data were normalized by “affy” package in R software (version 3.6.1). Subsequently, both data were merged and the batch effect was removed through “SVA” package. Differentially expressed genes were identified by “limma” package. In addition, functional annotation of up-regulated genes (fold change>1; adjusted p-value< 0.05) were determined using “KEGG” and “Reactome” pathway resources. Among significant pathways of IBD and CRC, common ones were selected. Pathway analysis was then performed by KEGG-mapper to identify the most important genes in these diseases. Finally, the druggability potential of the identified genes were evaluated using “DGIdb”.
  • Results: For primary CRC, Crohn’s Disease (CD), Active Ulcerative Colitis (AUC), Inactive Ulcerative Colitis (IUC) and Colon Polyps (CP), we identified 147, 147, 268, 84 and 108 up-regulated genes, respectively. Chemokine signaling pathways, mainly IL17 and TNF were common among CRC, CD, AUC, CP, while they didn’t share any pathways with IUC. Among 9 important common genes in CRC and IBD obtained from pathway analysis, MMP1, MMP3, CCL20, CXCL1, CXCL8, CXCL11, CXCL3 was suggested as possible drug targets for further research.
  • Conclusion: These findings demonstrated the association between CDC and IBD through the shared pathways. Identification of these genes can serve as an incentive for further designs and also experimental studies in order to find common treatments for these diseases.
  • Keywords: Colorectal disease, drug target, In silico, pathway analysis