Expression changes of microRNA-17-5p and transforming growth factor beta receptor 2 in colorectal cancer tissues and their relationship with clinical pathological features and prognosis

JIA Liyuan; DONG Chaonan; XU Jingjing; GUO Lina

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-0460.2025.08.003

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of microRNA-17-5p(miR-17-5p)and transforming growth factor beta receptor 2(TGFBR2)in colorectal cancer tissue and their relationship with clinical pathological features and prognosis.Methods A total of 158 colorectal cancer patients who underwent surgery in Zhangjiakou First Hospital from January 2019 to January 2021 were regarded as the study subjects,and their cancerous and adjacent tissues(>2 cm away from the cancerous tissue)were collected.The quantitative real time-PCR(qRT-PCR)experiment was applied to determine the relative expression levels of miR-17-5p and TGFBR2 genes in tissues.Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect the expression of TGFBR2 protein in tissues.TargetScanHuman website was applied to predict the targeting relationship between miR-17-5p and TGFBR2.Pearson method was applied to analyze the correlation between miR-17-5p and TGFBR2 expression levels in cancer tissues of colorectal cancer patients.Kaplan-Meier survival curve method was applied to analyze the relationship between miR-17-5p,TGFBR2 expression and the 3-year survival rates in colorectal cancer tissues.Cox proportional hazard regression model was applied to explore the risk factors affecting the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients.Results The expression level of miR-17-5p in cancer tissues of colorectal cancer patients was lower than that in adjacent tissues(0.78±0.20 vs.0.99±0.12,P<0.001),while the expression level of TGFBR2 was higher than that in adjacent tissues(1.31±0.35 vs.1.01±0.21,P<0.001).The positive expression rate of TGFBR2 in cancer tissues was 69.62%(110/158),significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues(31.65%,50/158),with a statistically significant difference(P<0.05).There was a targeted binding site between miR-17-5p and TGFBR2,and there was a negative correlation between the two(r=-0.582,P<0.001).The expression levels of miR-17-5p and TGFBR2 in tissues were correlated with infiltration depth,TNM staging,lymph node metastasis,and tissue differentiation degree(P<0.05).The survival rates of patients with low expression of miR-17-5p and high expression of TGFBR2 were lower than those of patients with high expression of miR-17-5p and low expression of TGFBR2(P<0.05).Multivariate Cox regression analysis reveled that the independent risk factors for prognosis in colorectal cancer patients included infiltration depth≥1/2,TNM stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ,lymph node metastasis,poor differentiation,high expression of TGFBR2,and low expression of miR-17-5p(P<0.05).Conclusion In colorectal cancer patients,miR-17-5p expression is decreased in tumor tissues,whereas TGFBR2 expression is increased,with a negative correlation between them.These changes are associated with clinicopathological features and patient prognosis.