: A potential prognostic biomarker of colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy worldwide with the second highest mortality rate. Although multidisciplinary cooperative therapies are helpful for improving the survival of CRC patients, the prognosis remains poor. Therefore, it is imperative to seek new biomarkers for the development of individualized treatment for each CRC patient.

Formin-like 3 regulates RhoC/FAK pathway and actin assembly to promote cell invasion in colorectal carcinoma.

Aim: To clarify the underlying mechanism of formin-like 3 (FMNL3) in the promotion of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cell invasion.

Methods: The biological function analyses of FMNL3 were performed by gain- and loss-of function approaches. Changes in the F-actin cytoskeleton were detected by the technologies of phalloidin-TRITC labeling and confocal microscopy.

Increased expression of formin-like 3 contributes to metastasis and poor prognosis in colorectal carcinoma.

Formin-like 3 (FMNL3), a member of diaphanous-related formins subfamily, plays an important role in cytoskeleton reorganization, cell adhesion and cancer cell invasion in vitro. This study aimed to explore the expression of FMNL3 in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cell-lines and tissues, and further evaluate its prognostic value and correlation with the clinicopathological parameters, and also investigate the effects of FMNL3 gene silencing on the growth and metastasis of CRC in vivo. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that FMNL3 protein was distributed in a punctuate aggregation pattern and located mainly in the cytoplasm of glandular cavity side, close to the nucleus of CRC cells.