METTL5 promotes cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by up-regulating Toll-like receptor 8 expression in colorectal cancer

Figure 1 METTL5 is associated with colorectal cancer prognosis and biological behavior of colorectal cancer cells in vitro. A: The expression of METTL5 was verified by immunohistochemical staining in colorectal cancer (CRC) and adjacent tissues; B: The relationship between overall survival and METTL5 expression was analyzed in consecutive cases of CRC; C: METTL5 mRNA levels were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in consecutive CRC cohorts; D and E: The protein expression of METTL5 in three pairs of CRC and adjacent tissues was verified by western blot; F: METTL5 mRNA levels in different CRC cell lines compared with normal intestinal mucosal epithelial cell line; G-L: CCK-8 (G and H), transwell (I and J), and scratch experiments (K and L) demonstrated that down-regulation of METTL5 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCT-15 and HCT-116 cells. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01.

Figure 2 Toll-like receptor 8 is identified as a downstream target of METTL5 and an oncogenic protein in colorectal cancer. A: The identified differentially expressed genes were enriched using the clusterpro digestion package in R language; B: Correlation analysis results show a positive correlation between METTL5 and Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8) mRNA levels; C-F: TLR8 mRNA and protein levels were detected by polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemical staining, and western blot in different colorectal cancer cell lines; G: TLR8 mRNA levels in different colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines compared with normal intestinal mucosal epithelial cell line; H: The relationship between overall survival and TLR8 expression was analyzed in consecutive cases of CRC; I-N: CCK-8 (I and J), transwell (K and L), and scratch experiments (M and N) demonstrated that down-regulation of TLR8 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HT-29 and HCT-116 cells. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01. TLR8: Toll-like receptor 8.