Study on the effect and mechanism of sorting nexin 1 on inhibiting the proliferation and migration of colorectal cancer cells

Objective·To explore the expression of sorting nexin 1 (SNX1) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its impact on the proliferation and migration of CRC cells.Methods·Transcriptomic data and clinical pathological information of CRC were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx), and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases for enrichment analysis with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) software. The expression of SNX1 in CRC tissues and cells was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry staining (IHC). Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to knock down the expression of SNX1 to observe its effect on tumor cell proliferation and migration. Correlation analysis was conducted to explore the potential molecular mechanisms underlying SNX1-mediated CRC cell migration, and mRNA level validation was performed in SNX1 knockdown cell lines.Results·Analysis of CRC patients data in TCGA and tissue microarrays revealed that SNX1 expression was downregulated in CRC tissues and correlated with tumor diameter and distant metastasis. Knockdown of SNX1 enhanced tumor cell proliferation and migration. The expression of SNX1 was negatively correlated with metastasis associated in colon cancer 1 (MACC1), mesenchymal to epithelial transition factor (MET), and Notch; knockdown of SNX1 led to upregulation of these genes. Silencing SNX1 resulted in the downregulation of the epithelial marker cadherin 1 (CDH1) and the upregulation of vimentin (VIM) and Snail family transcriptional repressor 1 (SNAI1).Conclusion·SNX1 expression was significantly downregulated in CRC tissues and correlated with patient prognosis. Low expression of SNX1 enhanced the proliferation and migration of CRC cells and was associated with the MACC1-MET pathway and EMT. SNX1 may serve as a potential biomarker for poor prognosis and a novel therapeutic target in CRC.