Regorafenib suppresses colon tumorigenesis and the generation of drug resistant cancer stem-like cells via modulation of miR-34a associated signaling

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies in the world and developed drug resistance has represented one of the most challenging tasks for management. The current therapeutic regimens may select and enrich cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) resulting in the increased resistance against treatment, metastatic potential and mortality. Regorafenib is a multi-kinase inhibitor, an FDA-approved last-of-line treatment for patients with chemo-refractory metastatic CRC. However, regorafenib’s potential effects on CSCs have not been fully elucidated. METHODS: Here, we developed two 5-FU resistant CRC cell lines, HCT-116R and DLD-1R and showed the increased CSCs characteristics such as increased side-population cells, tumor sphere formation and expression of stemness markers. These cell lines and CSCs properties were used for evaluating the potential of regorafenib in suppressing CSCs. RESULTS: We showed that regorafenib treatment decreased the stemness phenotypes including tumor sphere formation, and side-population, of both HCT-116R and DLD-1R cells. Additionally, regorafenib suppressed the cell viability in both cell lines synergistically with 5-FU. In vivo, the combination of regorafenib and 5-FU significantly suppressed the tumorigenesis and stemness markers of 5-FU resistant DLD-1R. Mechanistically, regorafenib-mediated effects were associated with the induction of tumor suppressor miR-34a and suppression of WNT/β-catenin signaling. Our findings demonstrated that regorafenib treatment was associated with the increased level of miR-34a, resulting in reversing drug resistance and cancer-initiating cell phenotypes by degrading WNT/β-catenin in CRC. CONCLUSION: Regorafenib might be a potential drug for colon cancer stem-like cells and it should be investigated in future clinical trials. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-018-0836-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.