Objective To explore the correlation between the expression of serum CircSTK3, miR-582-5p, and clinical pathological characteristics in patients with colorectal cancer, and to analyze their diagnostic value.

Methods 156 colorectal cancer patients admitted from August 2021 to August 2023 were selected as the study group, and 122 healthy individual for medical checkups in the same period were selected as the control group. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the serum CircSTK3, miR-582-5p levels of the examinees; Pearson's method correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation of colorectal cancer patients' serum CircSTK3 and miR-582-5p, and the correlation of their levels and clinicopathological characteristics; receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze the diagnostic value of serum CircSTK3 and miR-582-5p test for colorectal cancer.

Results Compared with the control group, patients in the study group had higher serum CircSTK3 levels and lower serum miR-582-5p levels (P<0.05); serum CircSTK3, miR-582-5p levels were negatively correlated (r=–0.566, P<0.001); colorectal cancer patients with higher serum CircSTK3 or lower serum miR-582-5p levels, had higher TNM stage, more prone to metastasis of lymph nodes, and lower tumor differentiation (P<0.05), and the area under the curve (AUC) of ROC for the combined diagnosis of serum CircSTK3 and miR-582-5p was significantly greater than the AUC of CircSTK3 alone (Z=2.610, P=0.009) or miR-582-5p alone (Z=2.302, P=0.021).

Conclusions Increased serum CircSTK3 levels and decreased serum miR-582-5p levels in colorectal cancer patients are closely related to the clinicopathologic features of the patients, and the combined serum CircSTK3 and miR-582-5p levels are of high value in diagnosing colorectal cancer.