lncRNA KIAA0125 functions as a tumor suppressor modulating growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer via Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in all races worldwide in recent years. The survival of the CRC patients is mostly affected by the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis. Thus, the current challenge is to find sensitive and reliable biomarkers in early screening of CRC. Recently, emerging evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may play crucial roles in tumorigenesis. In this study, we found that lncRNA KIAA0125 was downregulated in colorectal tissues and cells. The functional study demonstrated that overexpression of KIAA0125 suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion whereas the reversal effects were seen in silencing experiment. Besides, KIAA0125 inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition through Wnt/β-catenin signaling in CRC. Our findings suggested that KIAA0125 may act as an oncosupressor gene and could be considered as a potential diagnosis biomarker in CRC. © 2019 The Authors Cell Biology International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Federation of Cell Biology.