{
  "abstract": "Background: RNA measurements of genes associated with trogocytosis may reflect cellular composition rather than contact-dependent membrane acquisition. We evaluated an eight-gene candidate module in colorectal cancer (CRC) using expression- and lineage-matched random modules, independent compartment analysis and patient-level inference. A separate rare-transcript definition and cancer-model fitness screens provided complementary analyses. Results: In 62 GSE178341 patients, the module correlated with T-cell fraction ({rho}=0.767), but this association was typical of 10,000 matched modules (null median 0.766; one-sided empirical P=0.493; equal-tail two-sided P=0.985). A post hoc closest-10% matching sensitivity gave P=0.571. In 23 independent GSE132465 patients, the tumour-wide correlation was 0.735 (permutation P=0.00060) and the epithelial correlation was 0.376 (P=0.0892). The difference in absolute correlations was 0.359, with a 95% confidence interval of -0.041 to 0.759, leaving attenuation uncertain. Among 43,817 leukocytes, 16 CEACAM5-positive candidates arose from four patients; 15 had expression [≤]2 transcripts per million. Candidate counts were threshold-sensitive. No survival association was detected for the module in two cohorts. SCD fitness dependency reproduced across CRC organoids and cell lines, whereas adjusted SCD-VPS72 and exploratory ATF3-SMYD2 co-dependencies did not. Exploratory CH25H, ATF3 and FADS2 analyses yielded no Hallmark enrichment meeting the multiple-testing threshold. Conclusions: Matched-module calibration placed the strong association with T-cell abundance within the range expected for comparable immune-lineage genes. Independent compartment analysis was consistent with a contribution from cellular composition, although attenuation remained uncertain. These results identify the comparison conditions needed to interpret the tested RNA readouts. Linking them to membrane transfer requires event-resolved protein measurements.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J. Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "P. Sun"
    },
    {
      "name": "L. XU"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Y. Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "W. Zhu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Zhang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Tang"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Yang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e6zwsze79yr7t.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.28.762407",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.28.762407v1.full",
  "id": "e6zwsze79yr7t",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.28.762407v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "bioinformatics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.28.762407v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e6zwsze79yr7t.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:21:08Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.28.762407",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.28.762407v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:bioinformatics",
      "subfield": "bioinformatics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Cellular composition and the interpretation of candidate RNA readouts of trogocytosis in colorectal cancer",
  "title_text": "Cellular composition and the interpretation of candidate RNA readouts of trogocytosis in colorectal cancer",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T00:21:10Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e6zwsze79yr7t",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}