ADAM Metallopeptidase Domain 12 Facilitates Colorectal Cancer Progression by Inhibiting Hippo Signaling Pathway Activity

Abstract This work focused on investigating the effect of A Disintegrin And Metalloproteases 12 (ADAM12) on colorectal cancer development. ADAM12 levels within colorectal cancer samples were analyzed by using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Then, altogether 55 patients with colorectal cancer were enrolled to detect ADAM12 expression. ADAM12 overexpression or knockdown was transfected into colorectal cancer cells. Thereafter, this work examined colorectal cancer cell viability through Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and cell clone forming assays. Meanwhile, nude mice were utilized for in vivo analysis. Transwell assays were conducted for detecting migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells. In addition, mRN and protein expression was analyzed through qRT-PCR, Western blotting (WB) together with IHC staining. As a result, ADAM12 and YAP1 expression increased among colorectal cancer cases, and it indicated the dismal prognostic outcome of patients. Furthermore, ADAM12 promoted colorectal cancer cell growth, migration, invasion along with in vivo growth. ADAM12 suppressed p-MST1/MST1, p-LATS1/LATS1 together with p-YAP1 protein levels within colorectal cancer cells. ADAM12 increased YAP1 and TAZ protein levels as well as CTGF, Cyr61, and Birc5 mRNA expression in colorectal cancer cells. YAP1 inhibitor administration counteracted ADAM12’s function in promoting colorectal cancer cell growth, migration, invasion, and increasing CTGF, Cyr61, and Birc5 expression. Implications: Our study indicates that ADAM12 facilitates colorectal cancer progression through suppressing Hippo pathway activity, and that ADAM12 is the candidate therapeutic target and prognostic biomarker for patients with colorectal cancer.