Korean Colorectal Cancer Cohort RNA-seq data set from Samsung Medical Center

As colorectal cancer (CRC) is among the diseases with the highest mortality rates, understanding its molecular mechanisms is crucial for developing effective treatments. In this study, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis on a total of 476 samples, comprising both normal colon tissues and CRC tissues. These samples were collected from Samsung Medical Center (SMC) in South Korea and included fresh-frozen CRC tissues along with adjacent normal tissues. Our analysis of gene expression differences revealed that genes upregulated in tumor tissues were strongly linked to pathways related to the cell cycle, ECM-receptor interaction, and DNA damage response. On the other hand, genes with higher expression in normal tissues were predominantly enriched in metabolic pathways. Additionally, we used in-silico methods to classify the colorectal tumor samples into four subgroups. We then examined the biological and clinical features of each subgroup and compared our results with those from commonly used subgrouping methods. These findings offer important insights into the molecular mechanisms of CRC in Korean patients and identify potential targets for new therapies. To support further research, all materials used to generate the results in this paper, including raw and processed data, have been made available in a public repository.