inhibits carcinogenesis in colon cancer cells and is necessary for erastin-induced ferroptosis.

Background: Ferroptosis is a newly discovered type of regulated cell death, the underlying mechanisms of which need to be further illuminated. The regulatory activity of in ferroptosis in colon cancer cells is currently unclear. This study set out to investigate the effect of on ferroptosis in colon cancer cells and determine its underlying mechanism.

Methods: Biochemical Kits were used to measure iron concentration, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, glutathione (GSH) concentration and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) vitality. Cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) assays were conducted to evaluate cell viability. Flow cytometry was conducted to assess apoptosis. Transwell™ assays were used to measure the migratory and invasive abilities of HCT116 cells. Western blotting was used to measure the protein relative expression of NEDD4 binding protein 1 (N4BP1). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to measure the RNA relative expression of N4BP1 and .

Results: Ferroptosis was induced in HCT116 cells by erastin in a dose- and time-dependent manner, which caused significant inhibition of proliferation, migration, and invasion in HCT116 cells; however, there was no obvious effect on apoptosis. expression was decreased in colon cancer cells compared with the normal colon cells but was upregulated in erastin-treated HTC116 cells. Additionally, when overexpressed via the transfection of mimics, had an inhibitive effect on proliferation, migration, and invasion, while promoting apoptosis, in HCT116 cells. erastin-induced ferroptosis was also increased by overexpression. Compared with normal colon cells, following erastin treatment, NEDD4 binding protein 1 (N4BP1) expression was increased in colon cancer cells and further decreased in HTC116 cells. overexpression also inhibited mRNA and protein expression in HTC116 cells.

Conclusions: plays an important role in ferroptosis by targeting and could serve as a potential therapeutic approach for colon cancer.