The Expression of REEP2 in Colorectal Cancer and Its Influence on Prognosis: A Bioinformatics Investigation

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a pervasive and lethal cancer type worldwide, significantly impinging on patients' lives and burdening society economically. Current treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy have significant limitations, including high rates of recurrence after surgery and drug resistance. This underscores the urgent need for new biomarkers and therapeutic targets. This study aims to explore the expression levels of REEP2 (Receptor Expression-Enhancing Protein 2) and its potential association with CRC. Methods: Utilizing public datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), we conducted a comprehensive analysis including differential expression assessment, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis, as well as Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Results and Discussion: Our findings reveal a significant decrease in REEP2 expression levels in CRC tissues compared to normal tissues (p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis further underscores this observation with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.889 (CI=0.8550.923), highlighting its potential as a diagnostic biomarker. Furthermore, our differential expression analysis identified 1,131 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) linked to REEP2, predominantly enriched in nucleosome and calcium signaling pathways. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicates that lower REEP2 expression is linked to improved overall survival, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.48 (p=0.029). Additionally, we observed a correlation between REEP2 expression and the infiltration of immune cells, as well as several clinical characteristics, such as patient age and TNM staging. Conclusion: In conclusion, our research suggests that REEP2 could serve as a valuable biomarker for the diagnosis and potential treatment of CRC, which warrants further investigation into its potential application in treatment.