Jun Cao,1,2 Hao Zhang,2 Xin Xie,3 Wei Wang4 

1Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China

Correspondence: Wei Wang, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613891841656, Email wei.wang@xjtufh.edu.cn

Background: VPS72 is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and prostate cancer, participating in various cellular processes such as gene transcription, replication, DNA repair, maintenance of genome integrity, and cancer progression. However, its role in colorectal cancer remains unknown.
Methods: Bioinformatic methods were used to analyze gene expression, correlation and patient survival. Western blotting, colony formation assays and animal experiments were used to evaluate the function of VPS72 in colon cancer in vivo and in vitro.
Results: VPS72 was highly expressed in colon cancer tissues and correlated with poor overall survival (P< 0.05) and relapse free survival (P< 0.01). Furthermore, patients with III/IV clinical stage (P< 0.001), N1 nodal metastasis (P< 0.001) or N2 nodal metastasis (P< 0.05) status had poor overall survival. Further analysis showed that VPS72 is correlated with proliferation and EMT biomarkers. Western blotting, colony formation assays and animal experiments showed that VPS72 overexpression promoted colon cancer proliferation and EMT progress.
Conclusion: Our study found that VPS72 was correlated with poor overall survival in colon cancer patients, and high expressed level of VPS72 promoted colon cancer progression, indicating its role as a potential prognosis biomarker.

Keywords: VPS72, colon cancer, biomarker, proliferation, epithelial–mesenchymal transformation