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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a worldwide health problem. Glucose-regulated protein 94 (GRP94) is
known as an important endoplasmic reticulum-stress response protein that shows correlation with
aggressive cancer behavior. However, the role of GRP94 in CRC is still unclear. Our results showed that
silencing GRP94 (GRP94-KD) reduced cell proliferation, invasion and migration of CRC cells and
suppressed tumorigenesis in the xenograft mouse model. Rescue assay showed that ETV1
overexpression reversed the effect of GRP94 on cell proliferation and migration. In the molecular
mechanism, we found that knockdown of GRP94 inhibited the level of MAPK pathway, including
ERK/p-ERK, JNK/p-JNK, and p38/p-p38 signals. Cyclooxygenase-2 and epithelial-mesenchymal
transformation biomarkers, such as N-cadherin, vimentin, and β-catenin were suppressed in GRP94
knockdown cells. Treatment of specific inhibitors of MAPK pathway showed that ERK/p-ERK, and
p38/p-p38 inhibitors significantly influenced ETV1 expression as compared to JNK/p-JNK inhibitor. Our
results indicated that silencing GRP94 repressed the ability of EMT process, cancer cell proliferation,
metastasis, and CRC tumorigenesis. Therefore, GRP94 may play an important role in CRC by regulating
ETV1 and MAPK pathway.