TNNT1, a prognostic indicator in colon adenocarcinoma, regulates cell behaviors and mediates EMT process

Slow skeletal muscle troponin T (TNNT1) has been reported to be correlated with several cancers, but there are no evidences proving that TNNT1 is required in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). TNNT1 expression in COAD tissues and its prognostic significance were acquired from TCGA database. The proliferative, migratory, and invasive abilities of COAD cells were detected by CCK-8 and transwell assays, respectively. Correlations between TNNT1 and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers were determined using western blotting and Pearson’s analysis. Our results stated that TNNT1 expression was high-regulated in COAD tissues, which was related with unfavorable prognosis of COAD patients. Functional analyses suggested that TNNT1 promoted the cellular behaviors. Moreover, aberrant expression of TNNT1 affected the expression level of EMT-related proteins. And TNNT1 was negatively linked with E-cadherin. In conclusion, our findings indicated that TNNT1 may promote the progression of COAD, mediating EMT process, and thus shed a novel light on COAD therapeutic treatments. TNNT1 regulated cancer-related cellular behaviors following the elements of EMT process alteration and correlated with prognosis of colon adenocarcinoma patients.