Ase of PTEN phosphatase activity, which accounted for inactivation in the AKT-mTOR pathway. PTEN is mostly localized within the cytoplasm and opposes the function in the PI3K/AKT pathway. However, PTEN also possesses phosphatase-independent roles in the nucleus21,22. Interestingly, we found that TRPV4 knockdown induced 90-33-5 In stock nuclear localization of PTEN (Fig. 8c). Furthermore, silencing of PTEN attenuated growth inhibition and recovered the capability of clonogenicity in TRPV4 knockdown cells (Fig. 8d, e). Consistent with these findings, blocking PTEN also lowered the expression of cleaved PARP and Caspase3 in TRPV4depleted cells. Taken together, these information indicated that PTEN participated in TRPV4-induced effects in colon cancer cell development each through phosphatase-dependent and independent mechanisms.In the present study, we reported three major findings that enable a improved understanding with the function of TRPV4 in colon cancer cells. (1) We have demonstrated that TRPV4 is upregulated in colon cancer samples with poor prognosis. (2) Our biological assays in vitro and in vivo highlighted that silencing or pharmacological inhibition of TRPV4 attenuated colon cancer cell development. (3) We demonstrated that PTEN pathway contributes to TRPV4mediated cell growth. These clinical and biological findings have indicated the possible function of TRPV4 as a proto-oncogene in colon cancer. Alterations in the expression of certain TRP channels are a characteristic of several forms of cancer23. In this study, we demonstrated that TRPV4 was upregualted in human colon cancer with poor outcome. Constant with all the notion, the enhanced expression of TRPV4 is extremely linked with the histological grade in human hepatocellular carcinoma24. Having said that, the expression pattern of TRPV4 in colon and liver cancer is different from that in nonmelanoma skin cancer10. It appears that TRPVDiscussionOfficial journal of the Cell Death Differentiation AssociationLiu et al. Cell Death and Disease (2019)10:Page 9 ofFig. 7 The AKT-mTOR pathway is necessary for cell development inhibition induced by TRPV4 silencing. a TRPV4 knockdown or HC-067047 inhibits AKT-mTOR signaling in colon cancer cells. HCT-116 or SW620 cells were transfected with handle siRNA (siCTL), TRPV4 siRNA#1(siTRPV4#1) or TRPV4 siRNA#2 (siTRPV4#2) for 72 h, or treated with car (0.1 DMSO) or HC-067047 (four ). The protein levels of TRPV4, phospho-AKT (Ser473; pAKT), AKT, phospho-mTOR (Ser2448; p-mTOR), mTOR, phosphor-p70 S6 Kinase (Thr389; p-p70S6K), phosphor-S6 Ribosomal Protein (Ser235/236; p-S6), phospho-4E-BP1 (Thr37/46; p-4E-BP1); 4E-BP1, and ACTB have been Py-ds-Prp-Osu Autophagy analyzed by western bolt. b The effect of 4E-BP1 siRNA (si4E-BP1) on reduce of cyclin D3 expression induced by TRPV4 silencing. HCT-116 cells have been transfected with siCTL, siTRPV4#1 plus siCTL, or siTRPV4#1 plus si4B-BP1 for 72 h. c The impact of 4E-BP1 siRNA around the decrease of cell viability induced by TRPV4 silencing. Cell viability was analyzed by MTT assay. d The effect of 4E-BP1 siRNA around the lower of colony formation induced by TRPV4 silencing. e The effects of TSC1 siRNA (siTSC1) and TSC2 siRNA (siTSC2) on the inhibition of mTOR signaling, the lower of cyclin D3 expression or the raise of apoptosis marker cleaved PARP and Caspase3 expression induced by TRPV4 silencing. HCT-116 cells have been transfected with siCTL, siTRPV4#1 plus siCTL, siTRPV4#1 plus siTSC1 or siTRPV4#1 plus siTSC2 for 72 h. f The effects of TSC1 siRNA and TSC2 siRNA around the reduce of cell through.