Distinctive chromosomal, mutational and transcriptional profiling in colon versus rectal cancers

Abstract Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) encompasses tumors arising in the colon (CC) and rectum (RC), often treated as a single disease despite emerging evidence of biological divergence. Understanding the molecular differences between CC and RC is critical for improving diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic strategies. Methods: We performed an integrated genomic and transcriptomic analysis of CC and RC data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to investigate their degree of similarity and observed that these tumors present distinct molecular profiles, which