Identification of disulfidptosis-related subtypes, characterization of tumor microenvironment infiltration, and development of a prognosis model in colorectal cancer

Background Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths, which imposes a significant societal burden. Regular screening and emerging molecular tumor markers have important implications for detecting the progression and development of colorectal cancer. Disulfidptosis is a newly defined type of programmed cell death triggered by abnormal accumulation of disulfide compounds in cells that stimulate disulfide stress. Currently, there is no relevant discussion on this mechanism and colorectal cancer. Methods We classified the disulfidptosis-related subtypes of colorectal cancer using bioinformatics methods. Through secondary clustering of differentially expressed genes between subtypes, we identified characteristic genes of the disulfidptosis subtype, constructed a prognostic model, and searched for potential biomarkers through clinical validation. Results Using disulfidptosis-related genes collected from the literature, we classified colorectal cancer patients from public databases into three subtypes. The differentially expressed genes between subtypes were clustered into three gene subtypes, and eight characteristic genes were screened to construct a prognostic model. Conclusion The disulfidptosis mechanism has important value in the classification of colorectal cancer patients, and characteristic genes selected based on this mechanism can serve as a new potential biological marker for colorectal cancer.