MiR-873-5p inhibits cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer via targeting ZEB1

Abstract Recent studies have demonstrated that dysregulation of mircoRNAs (miRNAs) greatly affected biological processes of human cancers, including colorectal cancer. As a member of miRNAs family, miR-873-5p has been proved to be a tumor suppressor in some human cancers. Here, we aim to investigate the effects of miR-873-5p on the migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of colorectal cancer cells. The low expression of miR-873-5p in colorectal cancer cells was identified by conducting qRT-PCR analysis. Gain of function assays were designed and conducted to demonstrate the specific function of miR-873-5p overexpression in colorectal cancer progression. Transwell assay and western blot assay were conducted and revealed that miR-873-5p inhibited cell migration, invasion and EMT formation. To find the downstream molecular mechanism of miR-873-5p, mechanism assays were designed and performed to find the downstream target of miR-873-5p. ZEB1 (Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1) was certified to be the target of miR-873-5p through bioinformatics analysis, luciferase activity assay and pull-down assay. Finally, rescue assays were carried out to demonstrate the effects of miR-873-5p-ZEB1 axis on the migration, invasion and EMT process of colorectal cancer cells. In conclusion, we confirmed that miR-873-5p suppressed cell migration, invasion and EMT in colorectal cancer via targeting ZEB1.