WRN-2310 serves as a predictive short peptide for microsatellite instability colorectal cancer prognosis and clinical treatment

Abstract

Microsatellite instability (MSI) colorectal cancer (CRC) is a malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. Significant advancements have been achieved in the field of peptide drug development in recent years, propelled by innovative manufacturing processes, modification and analytical techniques. Thus, further research is needed to identify predictive biomarkers and promising short peptide targets. In this study, multiple bioinformatics methods were used to mine TCGA and other tumor databases to analyze the differential expression of Werner syndrome protein (WRN) genes and their prognosis. To further explore the effects of WRN-2310 on the proliferation and migration of MSI colorectal cancer cells HCT116/RKO, and predict its functional mechanism. The results revealed that the level of WRN protein in colorectal cancer tissues was higher than that in normal tissues, which was beneficial to the prognosis of patients and was a risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients. Meanwhile, further study of antagonist peptide WRN-2310 inhibited both proliferation and migration of MSI colorectal cancer cells RKO (p<0.01). This study demonstrated that WRN is a potential prognostic and diagnostic marker and that WRN-2310 could be a new short peptide target for the clinical treatment of MSI colorectal cancer.