Low expression of microRNA-1266 promotes colorectal cancer progression via targeting FTO.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of microRNA-1266 in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its underlying mechanism. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression level of microRNA-1266 in 48 CRC tissues and paracancerous tissues was detected by quantitative Real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between microRNA-1266 expression and basic characteristics of CRC patients was analyzed. The effect of microRNA-1266 on the viability of CRC cells was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Subsequently, a potential target gene for microRNA-1266 was predicted through bioinformatics. Finally, the binding condition between microRNA-1266 and the target gene was verified by RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) and luciferase reporter gene assay, respectively. RESULTS: MicroRNA-1266 was lowly expressed in 48 cases of CRC tissues than that of paracancerous tissues. Clinical data demonstrated that microRNA-1266 expression was correlated to tumor size and TNM of CRC patients. Knockdown of microRNA-1266 promoted proliferation of CRC cells. FTO was predicted to be the target gene for microRNA-1266, which was negatively regulated by microRNA-1266. CONCLUSIONS: MicroRNA-1266 is lowly expressed in CRC tissues than that of paracancerous tissues. Lowly expressed microRNA-1266 promotes the occurrence and progression of CRC by directly targeting FTO.