Multi-omics analysis and experiments reveal an association between polystyrene microplastics exposure and colorectal cancer progression.

BACKGROUND

Microplastics have emerged as environmental contaminants, yet their potential role in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression remains incompletely understood. We investigated whether polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) are associated with tumor-promoting phenotypes and transcriptomic alterations in CRC.

METHODS

We integrated transcriptomic analysis, machine learning, public single-cell RNA sequencing datasets, and functional experiments to investigate the biological effects of PS-MPs. CRC-related candidate genes were identified through bioinformatic analyses and experimentally validated using in vitro assays and a subcutaneous mouse model. RNA sequencing of tumor tissues was further performed to characterize transcriptomic alterations associated with PS-MPs exposure.

RESULTS

Six hub genes were identified from integrated bioinformatic analyses, and a LASSO-glmBoost diagnostic model achieved excellent performance in both TCGA and GEO cohorts. Functional experiments demonstrated that PS-MPs enhanced CRC cell proliferation, migration, and tumor growth while reducing apoptosis. RNA sequencing suggested polystyrene microplastics exposure might be associated with transcriptomic alterations including the activation of cell-cycle regulation, inflammatory responses, and DNA repair pathways.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that PS-MPs promote CRC progression and are associated with transcriptomic alterations and tumor-related biological processes.