title: Silencing homeobox C6 inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation.
abstract: Homeobox C6 (HOXC6), a member of the homeobox family that encodes highly conserved transcription factors, plays a vital role in various carcinomas. In this study, we used a tissue microarray (TMA) consisting of 462 CRC samples to demonstrate that HOXC6 is more abundantly expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues than adjacent normal mucosa. Clinicopathological data indicated that higher HOXC6 expression correlated with poor overall survival and was associated with primary tumor location in the right colon, primary tumor (pT) stage 3/4 and primary node (pN) stage 1/2. Multivariate analysis showed that high HOXC6 expression was an independent risk factor for poor CRC patient prognosis. HOXC6 downregulation via lentivirus-mediated expression of HOXC6-targeting shRNA reduced HCT116 cell viability and colony formation in vitro, and reduced growth of subcutaneous xenografts in nude mouse. HOXC6 thus appears to promote CRC cell proliferation and tumorigenesis through autophagy inhibition and mTOR pathway activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Meiling
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qingyang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Guodong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liangliang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xinyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Dexiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Pingping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jianmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D045325:HCT116 Cells; D064593:Heterografts; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C094289:HOXC6 protein, human; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins
keywords: HOXC6; autophagy; colorectal cancer; mTOR; proliferation