Identification of key pathways and genes in mutant KRAS colorectal cancer by integrated bioinformatics analysis

摘要

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the second in females,with an estimated 1.4 million cases and 693,900 deaths occurring in 2012 [1].The KRAS gene is mutated in about 40％ of CRC cases,which is a major predictive biomarker of resistance to anti-EGFR therapies.Anti-EGFR therapy is currently approved for use only in patients with KRAS wild-type (KRAS-WT) metastatic CRC [2,3].There is no effective therapeutic course for KRAS-mutant (KRAS-MT) metastatic CRC patients.Accordingly,there is a need to better understand the mechanism of KRAS-MT CRC and develop more reliable and accurate molecular signatures to better predict response or potential medication targets.