Wnt proteins have been reported to contribute to the progression of various types of
cancer. Wnt6 is a member of the Wnt family and may promote
tumorigenesis in
gastrointestinal cancer and
cervical cancer. In the present study, the expression of Wnt6 in human
colon cancer cell lines was evaluated, in order to investigate the role of Wnt6 in the development of
colon cancer. Additionally, the effects of Wnt6 upregulation or downregulation on proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle and cell migration of
colon cancer cells have been investigated. Furthermore, western blot analysis was employed to evaluate the expression of Wnt6,
B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X
protein (Bax),
caspase-3 and
matrix metalloproteinase (
MMP)2. The results of the present study demonstrated that the expression of Wnt6 was increased in HCT116 and SW480 cells compared with the remaining
colon cancer cell lines. Furthermore, overexpression Wnt6 resulting from transfection of pGPU6/GFP/Neo-Wnt6-Homo-1 plasmid promoted the proliferation, cell cycle and migration of HCT116 and SW480 cells, but inhibited cell apoptosis in vitro. The expression of
caspase-3 and MMP2 was increased, whereas the expression of Bax was decreased in response to upregulation of Wnt6. These results suggested that Wnt6 may serve a vital function in the development of
colon cancer.