The miR-28-5p-CAMTA2 axis regulates colon cancer progression via Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

Colon cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer with high morbidity and mortality. Calmodulin-binding transcription activator 2 (CAMTA2) belongs to the calmodulin-binding transcription activator protein family. The functional role of CAMTA2 in colon cancer development remains unclear. Our research found out that CAMTA2 was high-level expressed in colon cancer, and the upregulated CAMTA2 expression was markedly correlated with poor survival. Functional experiments showed that knockdown of CAMTA2 repressed colon cancer cell proliferation/migration in vitro and attenuated proliferation in vivo. In additional, CAMTA2 expression was controlled by miR-28-5p via posttranscriptional regulation and miR-28-5p expression was reversely correlated with CAMTA2 expression in colon cancer. Moreover, enforced miR-28-5p expression downregulated the expression of CAMTA2 significantly and the restoration of CAMTA2 expression abolished the inhibitory effect of miR-28-5p on colon cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. Mechanistically, overexpression of miR-28-5p suppressed Wnt/β-catenin signaling and the inhibitory could be partly abolished by overexpression of CAMTA2. In summary, our findings reveal that miR-28-5p/CAMTA2 axis plays a critical role in human colon cancer, which might be a promising diagnosis and therapeutic target for colon cancer treatment.