Angiopoietin-like 4 enhances metastasis and inhibits apoptosis via inducing bone morphogenetic protein 7 in colorectal cancer cells

• ANGPTL4 can markly promote BMP7 expression in vivo and in vitro.
• Overexpression of ANGPTL4 enhances metastasis and inhibits apoptosis of colorectal cancer cell HCT116.
• Knockdowning of BMP7 reverses the roles of ANGPTL4 overexpression in HCT116 cells.

Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4), a secretory glycoprotein, plays an important role in cancer metastasis. In the present study, we aim to investigate the roles and mechanisms of ANGPTL4 in the regulation of colorectal cancer metastasis. We found that expression level of ANGPTL4 was increased in colorectal cancer tissues, compared with that in normal tissues. Moreover, liver metastasis was significantly associated with higher expression of ANGPTL4. In vitro studies further showed that overexpression of ANGPTL4 enhanced cell migration, invasion and inhibited apoptosis. At the molecular level, ANGPTL4 overexpression resulted in an up-regulation of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7). Indeed, knockdown of BMP7 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) oligos reversed the roles of ANGPTL4 overexpression in HCT116 cells. Finally, in vivo studies further confirmed the metastatic roles of ANGPTL4 by inducing BMP7. Therefore, our study demonstrated that ANGPTL4 might promote metastasis and might inhibit apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells by up-regulation of BMP7.