Comprehensive RNA-seq analysis of colorectal cancer in a Korean cohort

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, and understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying CRC development and progression is critical for developing effective treatments. We performed RNA-Seq analysis of CRC and adjacent normal tissue samples from 214 Korean participants (comprising a total of 381 including 169 normal and 212 tumor samples) to investigate differential gene expression between the two groups. We identified a total of 19,575 expressed genes in CRC tissue and normal tissue, with 3,830 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified between the two groups. Functional annotation analysis revealed that upregulated DEGs were significantly enriched in pathways related to cell cycle, DNA replication, and IL-17, while downregulated DEGs were enriched in metabolic pathways. We also analyzed relationships between the clinical information and subtypes using Consensus Molecular Subtype (CMS). Our findings provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying Korean CRC patients and suggest potential targets for developing new treatments for this deadly disease. The raw data and processed results of this study have been deposited in a public repository to enable further analysis and exploration.