Expression pattern and clinical value of alternative splicing-related genes and oncogenic miRNAs miR-655 and miR-450a in colon adenocarcinoma tumors

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been recognized as crucial regulators in physical and pathological events and have potential as diagnostic biomarkers. This research aimed to examine the expression levels and clinical relevance of alternative splicing (AS)-related factors, splicing factor 3b subunit 4 (SF3B4) and serine and arginine-rich splicing factor 7 (SRSF7) and oncogenic miRNAs, miR-655 and miR-450a, in colon adenocarcinoma tumors. In this study, 30 tumor tissue samples and 30 adjacent non-tumor tissues were gathered from colorectal adenocarcinoma tumors. The expression levels of miR-450a and miR-655 and their potential target factors (SRSF7 and SF3B4) were analyzed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR). Statistical analysis was completed to evaluate the differences and relationship between expression data and clinical characteristics of patients. The findings demonstrated that the expression levels of miR-655 ( P = 0.007), miR-450a ( P = 0.0001), and their target genes, SF3B4 ( P = 0.008) and SRSF7 ( P = 0.016), were significantly altered in tumor tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis further showed that miR-655 (AUC = 0.88) and miR-450a (AUC = 0.89) exhibited high diagnostic performance, whereas SF3B4 (AUC = 0.74) and SRSF7 (AUC = 0.71) demonstrated moderate diagnostic accuracy for distinguishing cancer patients from controls. Our findings revealed that the AS-related miRNAS, miR-655 and miR-450a and the target genes, SF3B4 and SRSF7, may represent promising candidate biomarkers for diagnosing and predicting the clinical outcomes of CRC patients and warrant further investigation and validation in larger, independent cohorts.