MicroRNA-188-5p targeting Forkhead Box L1 promotes colorectal cancer progression via activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling

Objective:MicroRNA-188-5p(miR-188)enhances oncologic progression in various human malignancies.This study aimed to explore its role in colorectal cancer(CRC).Materials and Methods:Human CRC tissues paired with normal tissues,and several CRC cell lines were utilized.Real-time quantitative PCR was applied to measure the expression of miR-188.Overexpression and knockdown were used to access the function of miR-188 and to investigate whether FOXL1/Wnt signaling mediates such function.The proliferation,migration and invasion of cancer cells were evaluated by CCK8,wound-healing and transwell assays,respectively.Whether FOXL1 acted as a direct target of miR-188 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assays.Results:Levels of miR-188 were upregulated in CRC tissues than in paired-normal tissues,as well as in various CRC cell lines.High expression of miR-188 was strongly associated with advanced tumor stage,accompanied with significant tumor cell proliferation,invasion and migration.It was confirmed that FOXL1 played positive crosstalk between miR-188 regulation and downstream Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation.Conclusions:All findings indicate that miR-188 promotes CRC cell proliferation and invasion through targeting FOXL1/Wnt signaling and could be served as a potential therapeutic target for human CRC in the future.