Identifying the Mutational Profile of ABCB5 Upregulation in Colorectal Cancer: A Comprehensive Database Analysis

Author(s): Rachel E Sexton, Keerthana Danasekaran, Husain Y Khan, Hafiz Uddin, Mohammad Najeeb Al-Hallak, Yosef Landesman, Trinayan Kashyap, Yiwei Li, Amro Aboukameel, Asfar S Azmi

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States with a 5-year survival rate of 63%. Depending on the stage of disease, there are differing rates of overall survival: Stage I (90%) vs. Stage IV (14%). There is a clear discrepancy between early and late stage disease due to a variety of factors including acquired genetic and tumor mutations and lack of initial symptoms leading to late stage detection. It is clear that further understanding into the mechanisms of CRC need to be explored in depth to improve overall survival rates. ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 5 (ABCB5) has been found to be pathogenic in a variety of diseases including melanoma and colorectal cancer but there has been few studies looking at the cellular consequences of ABCB5 upregulation in CRC cells. Using publicly accessible databases, we explored ABCB5 positivity in CRC cells and found novel interactions with 64 differentially expressed genes involved in cellular processes like modulation of inflammation, (XCL1, TNFSF4), enhanced cell signaling via interaction with serine protease inhibitors (SERPINB4, WFDC6) and downregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins (SPIN2A). Although ABCB5 upregulation is not currently targetable with pre-clinical compounds, our analysis revealed the genetic effects induced by ABCB5 upregulation are targetable, including evidence of sensitivity to the XPO1 inhibitor XPOVIO (selinexor). It is clear further pre-clinical investigation is needed to validate these findings.