Glil Promotes Colorectal Cancer Metastasis In A Foxml-Dependent Manner By Activating EMT And PI3K-AKT Signaling

Purpose Colorectal cancer(CRC)is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in human beings and metastasis is the main death reason.Recently,Gli1 has been reported to be a key regulator of various cancer biologies and genes expressions.However,the detailed molecular mechanism of Gli1 in CRC metastasis remains largely unknown.In this study,we aimed to investigate the role of Glil in CRC metastasis.Methods We used qRT-PCR,Immunohistochemistry and Western blot to test the expression levelsof Glil,Foxml and other target genes in the tissues and cells;Lentivirus stable transfection to change the expression levels of Glil and Foxml;Wound-healing,cell invasion,migration assays and tail vein metastatic assay to test the role of Glil in CRC metastasis in vitro and vivo.Results We demonstrated that Gli1 was significantly overexpressed in colorectal cancer tissues and cells.Foxml level had a positive correlation with Glil.Furthermore,we found that Glil activated EMT and PI3K-AKT signaling in a Foxml-dependent manner.Conclusions Thus,we proved that Glil plays important role in CRC metastasis and provided a new visual field on the therapy of CRC metastasis.