High Intratumoral i-tRF-Gly Expression Predicts Short-Term Relapse and Poor Overall Survival of Colorectal Cancer Patients, Independent of the TNM Stage.

Colorectal cancer (CRC), one of the most prevalent types of cancer, requires the discovery of new tumor biomarkers for accurate patient prognosis. In this work, the prognostic value of the tRNA fragment i-tRF-Gly in CRC was examined. Total RNA extraction from 211 CRC patient cancer tissue specimens and 83 adjacent normal tissues was conducted. Each RNA extract was subjected to in vitro polyadenylation and reverse transcription. A real-time quantitative PCR assay was used to quantify i-tRF-Gly in all samples. Extensive biostatics analysis showed that i-tRF-Gly levels in CRC tissues were significantly lower than in matched normal colorectal tissues. Additionally, the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) time intervals were considerably shorter in CRC patients with high i-tRF-Gly expression. i-tRF-Gly expression maintained its prognostic value independently of other established prognostic factors, as shown by the multivariate Cox regression analysis. Additionally, survival analysis after TNM stage stratification revealed that higher i-tRF-Gly levels were linked to shorter DFS time intervals in patients with TNM stage II tumors, as well as an increased probability of having a worse OS for patients in TNM stage II. In conclusion, i-tRF-Gly has the potential to be a useful molecular tissue biomarker in CRC, independent of other clinicopathological variables.