GGCT promotes colorectal cancer migration and invasion via epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies, and the fourth most common cause of cancer-associated mortality globally. The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) serves an important function in metastatic dissemination and determines the aggressiveness of CRC. However, the regulatory mechanism of EMT in CRC has not yet been elucidated. γ-glutamylcyclotransferase (GGCT) is an important enzyme in glutathione metabolism and highly expressed in numerous forms of cancer, making it a promising therapeutic target. In the present study, GGCT was demonstrated to be highly expressed in CRC tissues, and patients with CRC with a higher expression of GGCT exhibited a worse prognosis compared with patients exhibiting a lower expression of GGCT. This result suggests that GGCT may serve as a novel prognostic marker for CRC. Furthermore, GGCT was indicated to promote CRC cell migration and invasion through regulating EMT-associated genes, including N-cadherin, Vimentin, snail family transcriptional repressor 2 and snail family transcriptional repressor 1. In conclusion, the present study provides novel insights into the mechanism governing CRC migration and invasion, and identified GGCT as a promising therapeutic target that may be used in the treatment of CRC.