Publication Name	World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology
Manuscript ID	126556
DOI	10.4251/wjgo.126556
Country	China

Category	Oncology
Manuscript Type	Translational Research
Article Title	DNA polymerase delta 1 in rectal adenocarcinoma: Multi-cohort validation of overexpression, genomic correlates, and association with the tumor immune microenvironment
Manuscript Source	Unsolicited Manuscript
All Author List	Jing Yu, Rong Jing, Min Li, Xiang-Zhi Qin, Qing Teng, Long Qin, Quan-Lin Li, Dong-Bing Zhou, Zhen-Bing Lv and Lei Gong
Funding Agency and Grant Number	Funding Agency Grant Number the first batch of municipal science and technology plan projects of Nanchong Science and Technology Bureau of Sichuan Province in 2025 25YYJCYJ0059
Corresponding Author	Lei Gong, MD, Department of General Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Nanchong Hospital of Capital Medical University, Nanchong Central Hospital, No. 99 Anzhen Road, Gaoping District, Nanchong 637000, Sichuan Province, China. 675173610@qq.com
Key Words	DNA polymerase delta 1; Rectal adenocarcinoma; Multi-cohort validation; Protein expression; Copy number variation; DNA methylation; Nomogram; Tumor immune microenvironment; Bioinformatics
Core Tip	DNA polymerase delta 1 (POLD1) is consistently overexpressed in rectal adenocarcinoma at both the mRNA and protein levels in The Cancer Genome Atlas-rectal adenocarcinoma and in the independent GSE106582 cohort, discriminating tumor from normal tissue with a pooled area under curve of 0.850 under a fully re-audited, scripted pipeline. This upregulation is associated with copy-number amplification (10.8% of tumors); promoter hypomethylation showed only probe-level, non-significant composite associations. POLD1 alone does not predict survival; a POLD1-plus-age nomogram reached an apparent C-index of 0.824 in discovery but did not validate externally (0.578 in 555 GSE39582 tumors) and remains hypothesis-generating. High POLD1 co-occurs with genome-instability pathway activity and, exploratorily, with lower CD56bright natural killer cell infiltration, observations that motivate mechanistic follow-up.
Citation	Yu J, Jing R, Li M, Qin XZ, Teng Q, Qin L, Li QL, Zhou DB, Lv ZB, Gong L. DNA polymerase delta 1 in rectal adenocarcinoma: Multi-cohort validation of overexpression, genomic correlates, and association with the tumor immune microenvironment. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; In press DOI: https://doi.org/10.4251/wjgo.126556
PDF	126556-in-press.pdf

Received	2026-08-10 08:59
Peer-Review Started	2026-08-11 06:35
First Decision by Editorial Office Director
Return for Revision	2026-08-25 05:47
Revised	2026-08-26 08:59
Publication Fee Transferred	2026-09-10 13:58
Second Decision by Editor	2026-11-02 02:18
Second Decision by Editor-in-Chief
Final Decision by Editorial Office Director	2026-11-04 10:46
Articles in Press	2026-11-04 10:46
Edit the Manuscript by Language Editor
Typeset the Manuscript

ISSN	1948-5204 (online)
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