Colorectal
adenocarcinoma (
COAD) is one subtype of
colorectal carcinoma (CRC), whose development is associated with genetics, inappropriate immune response, and environmental factors. Although significant advances have been made in the treatment of
COAD, the mortality rate remains high. It is a pressing need to explore novel therapeutic targets of
COAD. Available evidence indicated that immune cell infiltration was correlated with
cancer prognosis. To reveal the roles of immune cells in the
COAD prognosis, a study published in Bioscience Reports by Li et al. (Bioscience Reports (2021) 41, https://doi.org/10.1042/BSR20203496) analyzed data from The
Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset. It demonstrated a beneficial effect of Th17 cells in
COAD prognosis. In addition, six hub genes (KRT23, ULBP2, ASRGL1, SERPINA1, SCIN, and SLC28A2) were identified to correlate with Th17 cells and
COAD prognosis, suggesting one new
therapy strategy and some predictive
biomarkers of
COAD. These findings reported by Li et al. may pave one way to explore the molecular mechanism of
COAD further.