MiR-629-5p promotes colorectal cancer progression through targetting CXXC finger protein 4

MiR-629-5p has been shown to function as a tumor promoter in some types of cancer. However, the role of miR-629-5p in colorectal cancer remains unclear. Here, the significant up-regulation of miR-629-5p in colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines was observed. Overexpression of miR-629-5p showed a positive effect on cell proliferation and migration. The enhanced miR-629-5p level also suppressed cell apoptosis and resulted in a low Bax level and a high Bcl-2 level. Further down-regulating miR-629-5p demonstrated opposite effects. CXXC finger protein 4 (CXXC4) was predicted as a direct target of miR-629-5p Dual-luciferase reporter and Western blotting assays exhibited miR-629-5p directly bound to the 3'UTR of CXXC4 and then down-regulated its expression at post-transcriptional level. CXXC4 knockdown rescued the decreased cell proliferation and migration and the enhanced cell apoptosis induced by inhibiting miR-629-5p expression. Notably, overexpression of miR-629-5p also conferred 5-fluorouracil sensitivity, which was partly abrogated by coexpression of CXXC4. Overall, the results presented here suggest that miR-629-5p functions as a tumor promoter by improving proliferation and migration and repressing apoptosis and 5-FU sensitivity in colorectal cancer progression by directly down-regulating CXXC4.