Overexpression of CREPT confers colorectal cancer sensitivity to fluorouracil.

Aim: To investigate expression of cell cycle-related and expression-elevated protein in tumor (CREPT) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and determine its prognostic value in response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).
Methods: The relative expression of CREPT in CRC tumor samples was determined using immunohistochemistry. The protein content in cell lines was analyzed by immunoblotting. Cell viability was measured with the CCK-8 assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis analyses were performed with flow cytometry.
Results: CREPT was overexpressed in CRC tissues and correlated with histological grade. Clinicopathological analysis indicated that CREPT was positively related to tumor progression. Exogenous expression of CREPT stimulated cell proliferation and accelerated the cell cycle. More importantly, high expression of CREPT sensitized CRC cells to 5-FU treatment. Furthermore, we demonstrated that 5-FU elicited significant apoptosis in CREPT-positive cells.
Conclusion: Aberrant overexpression of CREPT contributes to tumorigenesis of CRC by promoting cell proliferation and accelerating the cell cycle, and confers sensitivity to 5-FU. CREPT is a potential prognostic biomarker for 5-FU in CRC.
Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript titled “Overexpression of CREPT confers colorectal cancer sensitivity to fluorouracil”.