GEO series

Smoking promotes the progression of colorectal cancer via CKAP2L/STAT3/AREG/EGFR axis

GSE305020 Homo sapiens (human) RNA-seq (gene expression) 12 samples Submitted 2026/01/20 Platform GPL16791

At a glance

RNA-seq (gene expression) · human · 12 samples

What it is: RNA-seq (gene expression)Gene activity measured by sequencing. The summary does not mention single-cell work, so this is most likely bulk: one average per sample, the usual starting point for comparing groups.
Organism: Homo sapiens (human)
Topic: Colorectal cancerThis series is part of our curated briefing on it.
Samples: 12 samples: 3 × HCT116-Vecto vs 3 × HCT116-CKAP2L vs 3 × RKO-NC vs 3 × RKO-shCKAP2LGroups are read from the sample names, not from the paper. Check the list below.
Data you can get: A processed table (series matrix) and supplementary files from NCBI; the raw sequencing reads from ENA. Which of these hold counts depends on the study, so check the file list.
Paper: Smoking promotes colorectal cancer via the CKAP2L/AREG axisInternational journal of oncology · 2026

Summary (written by the submitters)

Smoking is a major risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). But the underlying molecular mechanisms by which smoking promotes CRC remain unclear. The positive association between smoking and CRC was confirmed by both cross-sectional study and mendelian randomization analyses. RNA-seq sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were conducted to identify the key genes involved in smoking-induced CRC progression.

Read the full summary ↓

After treatment with cigarette smoke extract in CRC cells, cell proliferation and metastasis were enhanced. Subsequently, cytoskeleton associated protein 2 like (CKAP2L) was identified as a key gene involved in smoking-induced CRC and its downregulation inhibited cell proliferation and metastasis. CKAP2L is an important part of the cell centrosome and serves a critical role in spindle formation. Previous studies have demonstrated that CKAP2L mediates the cell cycle in a variety of cancer types, promoting the progression and spread of tumors.A recent study reported that regulatory factor X5-regulated CKAP2L can promote the proliferation and metastasis of CRC cells. In this study, we upregulated CKAP2L in HCT116 cells and downregulated CKAP2L in RKO cells. Then, these cells were subjected to the RNA-seq to explore the expression of relative genes.

Published in

Smoking promotes colorectal cancer via the CKAP2L/AREG axis

Wu S, Wu F, Li X et al. · International journal of oncology 2026 · PMID 41823522 · doi:10.3892/ijo.2026.5872

This dataset

Open GSE305020 in finder → Find more human RNA-seq datasets → Colorectal cancer landscape →

Download · which file do I need?

Direct links to NCBI and ENA, no account and no request form. Pick by what you want to do: take the small processed table to look, the supplementary files to re-analyse, or the original raw data to start over.

1 · Just have a look

Processed table

The series matrix: one table of values per sample as the submitters processed it. The smallest download, and it opens in Excel or R. Start here to see what the data look like.

Series matrix ↓

2 · Re-analyse it

Supplementary files

The count tables and other files the authors uploaded. Take only the samples you need, or the whole study as GSE305020_RAW.tar (it can run to tens of gigabytes).

All supplementary files ↗ Whole study · RAW.tar ↓

3 · Start from the raw reads

Raw sequencing reads

The original FASTQ files, straight from the sequencer, held at ENA. Large, and you align them yourself, so only choose this if you need to re-process the study from scratch.

Raw reads on ENA ↗

What the files usually look like: For RNA-seq the counts are usually a table among the supplementary files (look for 'counts', 'expression', 'FPKM' or 'TPM' in the file name). The series matrix of a sequencing study is sometimes nearly empty.

Also filed as BioProject PRJNA1303720 and SRA study SRP607723. Searching any of these in the dataset finder brings you back here.

NCBI GEO page ↗ Paper (PMID 41823522) ↗

Study design

3 × HCT116-Vecto vs 3 × HCT116-CKAP2L vs 3 × RKO-NC vs 3 × RKO-shCKAP2L

Supports a between-group comparison across 12 samples.

How we read this: 4 replicated groups read from 12 sample titles; they account for 12 of them. These groups are guessed from the sample names, not taken from the paper, so check them against the sample list below before relying on them.

Samples in this study

GSM9161156 HCT116-Vector-1 HCT116-Vecto
GSM9161158 HCT116-Vector-2 HCT116-Vecto
GSM9161160 HCT116-Vector-3 HCT116-Vecto
GSM9161162 HCT116-CKAP2L-1 HCT116-CKAP2L
GSM9161164 HCT116-CKAP2L-2 HCT116-CKAP2L
GSM9161165 HCT116-CKAP2L-3 HCT116-CKAP2L
GSM9161166 RKO-NC-1 RKO-NC
GSM9161167 RKO-NC-2 RKO-NC
GSM9161168 RKO-NC-3 RKO-NC
GSM9161169 RKO-shCKAP2L-1 RKO-shCKAP2L
GSM9161170 RKO-shCKAP2L-2 RKO-shCKAP2L
GSM9161171 RKO-shCKAP2L-3 RKO-shCKAP2L

More Colorectal cancer datasets

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GSE12032 Inherent gene signature of stage II and III colorectal cancer leads in individual recurrence 198 samples same disease briefing · shares colorectal
GSE109308 Single-cell transcriptomic survey of adenomatous polyposis patients with germline APC mutations 97 samples same disease briefing
GSE110009 Single cell transcriptome landscape of primary and metastatic tumor in colon cancer 76 samples same disease briefing
GSE305039 Smoking promotes the progression of colorectal cancer via CKAP2L/STAT3/AREG/EGFR axis 6 samples shares ckap2l, stat3, areg, egfr, progression, colorectal, promotes, smoking
GSE276108 Cancer-associated fibroblast driven paracrine IL-6/STAT3 signalling promotes migration and dissemination in invasive lobular carcinoma 56 samples shares stat3, promotes
GSE277806 NF1 Loss Promotes EGFR Activation and Confers Sensitivity to EGFR Inhibition in NF1 Mutant Melanoma 32 samples shares egfr, promotes
GSE262796 Gene expression changes associated with acquired resistance to anti-EGFR therapy (cetuximab) in colorectal cancer cells 18 samples shares egfr, colorectal

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