SOX‐17 is involved in invasion and apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells through regulating miR‐302b‐3p expression

Abstract The prognosis of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) is currently still very poor, which suggests that the biological mechanisms of CRC oncogenesis are not fully understood. This study was conducted to explore the regulatory effect of SOX‐17 on the expression of microRNA (miR)‐302b‐3p, and the involvement of SOX‐17 in the invasion and apoptosis of CRC cells. The expression of SOX‐17 and miR‐302a,b,c,d‐3p in colorectal cancer and normal colon epithelial cell lines was measured by real‐time polymerase chain reaction and/or western blot. The regulatory effects of SOX‐17 on miR‐302b‐3p gene in HT29 and LoVo cells were tested using the ChiP assay. The biological activities of SOX‐17 and miR‐302b‐3p were evaluated by invasion and apoptosis assay. Results showed that transfection of SOX‐17 small interfering RNA (siSOX‐17) significantly increased, whereas transfection of SOX‐17 overexpression vector (oeSOX‐17) significantly decreased, miR‐302b expression in HT29 and LoVo cells. Cotransfection of oeSOX‐17 and miR‐302b‐3p inhibitor (INmiR‐302b) significantly blocked the effects of SOX‐17 in HT29 and LoVo cells. ChIP experiments showed that SOX‐17 bonded to the miR‐302b‐3p promoter in HT29 and LoVo cells. Transfection of oeSOX‐17 and miR‐302b‐3p mimics (MImiR‐302b) significantly decreased, whereas transfection of siSOX‐17 and INmiR‐302b significantly increased, the invasion of HT29 and LoVo cells. In contrast, transfection of oeSOX‐17 and MImiR‐302b significantly increased, while transfection of siSOX‐17 and INmiR‐302b significantly decreased, apoptosis in HT29 and LoVo cells. Cotransfection of oeSOX‐17 and INmiR‐302b significantly blocked the effects of oeSOX‐17 on cell invasion and apoptosis in HT29 and LoVo cells. These results suggested that SOX‐17 can bind to the promoter of miR‐302b‐3p gene to regulate its expression, while both SOX‐17 and miR‐302b regulate the invasion and apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells.