Affiliations: [a] Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China | [b] Respiratory Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Ren Lei, Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China. E-mail: renliedui936805@163.com.
Abstract: Faced with the increasing colorectal cancer (CRC) cases, the interrogation of pivotal molecules in CRC appears to be vitally important. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are well-known regulators of gene expression at transcriptional, post-transcriptional or epigenetic level, among which the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network is a common way that lncRNAs exert their properties. The current study aimed to provide a new insight into improving the outcomes of CRC patients. Our study detected that ELFN1-AS1 expression was elevated in CRC tissues and cells, and ELFN1-AS1 upregulation was correlated with poor prognosis of CRC sufferers. Besides, it was viewed that ELFN1-AS1 knockdown impeded the proliferation and migration abilities as well as activated the apoptosis ability of CRC cells. In subsequence, mechanism assays also displayed that ELFN1-AS1 targeted miR-4644 to augment TRIM44 level. Finally, rescue experiments confirmed that TRIM44 took part in the ELFN1-AS1-medatied promotional influences on CRC cells proliferation and migration. In conclusion, ELFN1-AS1 exerted pro-proliferation, anti-apoptosis and pro-migration functions on CRC cells by acting as a sponge of miR-4644 to increase TRIM44 expression at mRNA and protein level, providing an additional molecule responsible for the carcinogenesis and progression for CRC.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer (CRC), ELFN1-AS1, miR-4644, TRIM44
