The expression of NLK is functionally associated with colorectal cancers (CRC)

Xinyan Chen; Yifan Zhou; Yufeng Wan; Tingting Chen; Huaqing Zhu; Xiaowen Cheng

doi:10.7150/jca.62526

The expression of NLK is functionally associated with colorectal cancers (CRC)

J Cancer. 2021 Oct 17;12(23):7088-7100. doi: 10.7150/jca.62526. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Xinyan Chen¹, Yifan Zhou², Yufeng Wan³, Tingting Chen⁴, Huaqing Zhu⁵, Xiaowen Cheng^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, P.R. China.
² Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230036, China.
³ Department of Otolaryngology, The Affiliated Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 238001, P.R. China.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230032, P.R. China.
⁵ Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Department of Biochemistry, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230022, P.R. China.

Abstract

The regulatory mechanism of NLK in the carcinomagenesis and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. Here, we identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) site of NLK (rs2125846) as a new susceptibility locus for CRC risk located within an intron of the human NLK gene in a Chinese population. NLK downregulation led to a decrease in the ability of proliferation and migration of RKO cells in vitro. The proportion of RKO apoptotic cells increased by interfering with the endogenous expression of NLK. We speculate that LncRNA XIST may upregulate NLK expression by downregulating miR-92b-3p, thereby promote the development of CRC. These results provide important information for the identification of novel potential targets for the prevention or treatment of CRC.

Keywords: LncRNA XIST; NLK; colorectal cancer; microRNA-92b-3p; single nucleotide polymorphism.