Introduction: Cancer is a life-threatening health concern with increasing statistics in industrial countries and developing nations. Adenocarcinomas of the colon (COAD), rectum (READ), and stomach (STAD) rank among the top five cancers in terms of both incidence and mortality across genders and age groups. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) refers to the transformation of cells from stationary layers to more migratory and invasive phenotypes. Methods: In this study, we analyzed the expression of EMT-transcription factors from ZEB, SNAIL, and TWIST families across STAD, COAD, and READ. We utilized online databases GEPIA2, KaplanMeier plotter, and GDC to determine the expression patterns and mutation rates of candidate genes, and also the overall survival of patients. Discussion and conclusion: Current analysis revealed that the median expression of ZEB1, ZEB2, SNAI2, and TWIST2 is obviously higher in normal samples of the colon, rectum, and stomach in comparison with their corresponding tumor tissues. Regarding SNAI1, TWIST1, and TCF3, however, the expression is higher in COAD, READ, and STAD than in normal samples. Investigating the relationship between EMT-TFs expression and overall survival of patients indicated that high mRNA level of ZEB1, ZEB2, SNAI1, SNAI2, TWIST1, and TWIST2 is associated with poor overall survival in STAD and COAD. However, only up-regulation of SNAI1 is associated with poor overall survival in READ. Finally, analyzing the distribution of EMT-TF mutated genes indicated that among all mutations in all genes, ZEB1 has a higher rate of mutation in comparison with other EMT-TF genes.

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