Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Expression of Annexin A9 (ANXA9), a member of the annexin A family, is upregulated in CRC. However, the molecular role of ANXA9 in CRC remains unknown. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the function of ANXA9 and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying its regulation in CRC. In this study, mRNA expression data and clinical information were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and GEPIA database, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to analyze the survival rates. LinkedOmics and Metascape databases were used to explore the potential mechanisms of regulation of ANXA9 and to identify genes co-expressed with ANXA9. Finally, in vitro experiments were used to evaluate the function of ANXA9 and explore potential mechanisms. We found that ANXA9 expression was significantly elevated in CRC tissue and cells. High ANXA9 expression was associated with shorter overall survival, poorer disease specific survival, as well as with patient age, clinical stage, M stage, and OS events in CRC. Knockdown of ANXA9 inhibited cell proliferation, invasion, migratory potential, and cell cycle arrest. Mechanistically, functional analysis revealed that genes co-expressed with ANXA9 were mainly enriched in the Wnt signaling pathway. ANXA9 deletion suppressed cell proliferation via the Wnt signaling pathway, while Wnt activation reversed the effects of ANXA9. In conclusion, ANXA9 may promote CRC progression by regulating the Wnt signaling pathway and may be a potential diagnostic biomarker in the clinical management of CRC.