Here, we used small interfering RNA to selectively deplete APRIL and to determine its tumorigenic effects in a CRC cell line SW480 both in vitro and in vivo.
Furthermore, knockdown of APRIL in primary spheroid cultures of colon cancer cells and both mouse and human CRC cell lines reduced tumor clonogenicity and in vivo outgrowth.
To study the potential mechanisms of APRIL gene in the occurrence and development of the CRC, herein, we investigated whether APRIL-knockdown had the inhibitory effect on the growth of SW480 cells and had the simultaneous expression changes of miRNAs and mRNAs by microarrays.
Both positive rate and mRNA level of APRIL were significantly higher in colorectal carcinoma tissues than in para-tumor tissues (76.8% vs. 16.1%, 0.16+/-0.05 vs. 0.71+/-0.08, both P<0.001).