Abstract
Zinc finger protein 217 (ZNF217) is essential for cell proliferation and has been implicated in tumorigenesis. However, its expression and exact roles in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that ZNF217 expression was aberrantly upregulated in CRC tissues and associated with poor overall survival of CRC patients. In addition, we found that ZNF217 was a putative target of microRNA (miR)-203 using bioinformatics analysis and confirmed that using luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, in vitro knockdown of ZNF217 or enforced expression of miR-203 attenuated CRC cell proliferation, invasion and migration. Furthermore, combined treatment of ZNF217 siRNA and miR-203 exhibited synergistic inhibitory effects. Taken together, our results provide new evidences that ZNF217 has an oncogenic role in CRC and is regulated by miR-203, and open up the possibility of ZNF217- and miR-203-targeted therapy for CRC.
Highlights
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second and third most common malignant tumor in females and males, respectively, worldwide, with over 1.2 million new cases and an estimated 608,700 deaths in 2008 alone [1]
Many researches have proved that copy number increase of chromosome 20q13.2 is associated with metastasis of CRC [6] and Zinc finger protein 217 (ZNF217) is upregulated in colon cancer as measured by laser capture microdis section and multiplex quantitative real-time PCR [7]
The results showed that transfection of miR-203 mimics significantly inhibited the expression of wild type (WT) but not Mut 3’-untranslated region (UTR) of ZNF217 in HEK293T cells (Fig. 3B)
Summary
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second and third most common malignant tumor in females and males, respectively, worldwide, with over 1.2 million new cases and an estimated 608,700 deaths in 2008 alone [1]. ZNF217 gene is an oncogene newly cloned in the 20th. It locates in the chromosome 20q13.2 and codes a Kruppel-like transcription factor of zinc finger protein family [3]. ZNF217 protein contains 8 predicted Kruppel-like C2H2 zinc finger motifs and a proline-rich region [4]. An increasing number of studies have shown that members of Zinc finger protein family play important roles in the development of a variety of cancers [5]. Many researches have proved that copy number increase of chromosome 20q13.2 is associated with metastasis of CRC [6] and ZNF217 is upregulated in colon cancer as measured by laser capture microdis section and multiplex quantitative real-time PCR [7]
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