AVL9 promotes colorectal carcinoma cell migration via regulating EGFR expression

BACKGROUND: Despite advanced treatments could inhibit progression of colorectal carcinoma (CRC), the recurrence and metastasis remain challenging issues. Accumulating evidences implicated that AVL9 played a vital role in human cancers, but it’s biological function and mechanism in CRC remain unclear. AIM: To investigate the biological role and mechanism of AVL9 in colorectal carcinoma. RESULTS: AVL9 expression was significantly upregulated in tumor tissues than that in matched normal tissues both at mRNA and protein levels. High expression of AVL9 was closely correlated with M status, stages and poor prognosis of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) patients. Functionally, AVL9 overexpression promoted cell migration rather than cell proliferation in vitro, whereas AVL9 knockdown exhibited the contrary results. Mechanistically, AVL9 regulated EGFR expression, and knockdown of EGFR restrained AVL9-induced cell migration. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrated that AVL9 contributed to CRC cell migration by regulating EGFR expression, suggesting a potential biomarker and treatment target for CRC.