Expression Profiles and Prognostic Value of FABPs in Colorectal Adenocarcinomas

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the world’s leading causes of cancer-related deaths; thus, it is important to detect it as early as possible. Obesity is thought to be linked to a large rise in the CRC incidence as a result of bad dietary choices, such as a high intake of animal fats. Fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) are a set of molecules that coordinate intracellular lipid responses and are highly associated with metabolism and inflammatory pathways. There are nine types of FABP genes that have been found in mammals, which are FABP1–7, FABP9, and FABP12. Each FABP gene has its own roles in different organs of the body; hence, each one has different expression levels in different cancers. The roles of FABP family genes in the development of CRC are still poorly understood. We used a bioinformatics approach to examine FABP family gene expression profiles using the Oncomine, GEPIA, PrognoScan, STRING, cBioPortal, MetaCore, and TIMER platforms. Results showed that the FABP6 messenger (m)RNA level is overexpressed in CRC cells compared to normal cells. The overexpression of FABP6 was found to be related to poor prognosis in CRC patients’ overall survival. The immunohistochemical results in the Human Protein Atlas showed that FABP1 and FABP6 exhibited strong staining in CRC tissues. An enrichment analysis showed that high expression of FABP6 was significantly correlated with the role of microRNAs in cell proliferation in the development of CRC through the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway. FABP6 functions as an intracellular bile-acid transporter in the ileal epithelium. We looked at FABP6 expression in CRC since bile acids are important in the carcinogenesis of CRC. In conclusion, high FABP6 expression is expected to be a potential biomarker for detecting CRC at the early stage.

Kruppel-like factor 5 enhances proliferation, lipid droplet formation and oxaliplatin resistance in colorectal cancer by promoting fatty acid binding protein 6 transcription

“…FABPs can promote fatty acid transport to particular intracellular organelles for transcription modulation in the nucleus, lipid oxidation in peroxisomes or mitochondria, storage as lipid droplets and enzyme activity modulation in the cytoplasm and membrane synthesis, signaling and trafficking in endoplasmic reticulum [21]. As a FABP, FABP6 is overexpressed in CRC tissues and is a potentially promising treatment target for CRC [22]. A former study suggested that downregulating FABP6 in CRC cells depresses tumor development and growth [23].…”

A review on the role of fatty acids in colorectal cancer progression

“…FABP genes expression in human CRC was studied. Prayugo et al reported that numerous FABP genes are altered in CRC patients, and that FABP6 could be a potential biomarker of colorectal adenocarcinomas ( Prayugo et al, 2021 ). Bile acids that are increased in colon adenomas and cause DNA damage and apoptosis in colonic epithelium are thought to be responsible of the raised FABP6 expression in early-stage carcinogenesis in CRC ( Imray et al, 1992 ; Fujii et al, 1993 ).…”

Identification of FABP7 as a Potential Biomarker for Predicting Prognosis and Antiangiogenic Drug Efficacy of Glioma

“…In addition, the levels of FABP6 mRNA were found to be higher in HCCs than in adjacent normal liver tissues [22]. FABP1 and FABP6 are strongly expressed in colorectal cancer tissues, with overexpression of FABP6 protein was found to be associated with poorer overall survival (OS) in colorectal cancer patients [23]. The levels of FABP9 was found to be higher in breast cancer samples than in adjacent normal breast tissues [24].…”