mir-145-5p is a suppressor of colorectal cancer at early stage, while promotes colorectal cancer metastasis at late stage through regulating AKT signaling evoked EMT-mediated anoikis

BACKGROUND: miR-145-5P is generally considered as a tumor suppressor at early stage of colorectal cancer, but up-regulation occurs in the progressive and later stages which is associated with metastasis, indicating miR-145-5p may play dual role in colorectal cancer (CRC). To explore the detailed mechanism of miR-145-5p in carcinogenic is of importance. METHODS: The expression pattern of miR-145-5p in CRC patients was downloaded from TCGA database, and the probable mechanism involved in the carcinogenic effect of miR-145-5p was predicted by bioinformatics analysis. Then, interference of miR-145-5p on SW480 and SW620 cells was conducted, and the influences on tumor cell viability, invasion ability, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), anoikis, and relative protein expression were examined respectively. RESULTS: A total of 522 CRC patients’ data indicated that miR-145-5p expression was significantly higher in metastatic CRC than that in non-metastatic CRC, and higher expression of miR-145-5p was correlate with worse prognosis. Overexpression of miR-145-5P-5p enhanced the proliferation and invasion ability of SW620, but inhibited them in SW480. EMT was induced in SW620 after miR-145-5p overexpression and mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET) was induced in SW480, resulted in the decreased apoptotic rate in SW620 and elevated apoptotic rate in SW480 respectively. Western blot results showed that AKT signaling pathway was involved in the miR-145-5p evoked EMT-mediated anoikis process in SW620 and SW480 cells. CONCLUSION: miR-145-5p is a tumor suppressor at early stage of CRC, and an oncogene at advanced stage of CRC. AKT signaling evoked EMT-mediated anoikis might be the pathway by which miR-145-5P regulates CRC cell invasion and metastasis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-10182-6.