Objective To investigate the effect of G6PD on the growth and invasion of colorectal cancer HCT116 and SW480 cells, and the expression of G6PD and HKⅡ in colorectal cancer and adjacent epithelial tissues and their correlation.

Methods G6PD overexpression and interference treatment were performed on colorectal cancer HCT116 and SW480 cells cultured in vitro. Western blot and flow cytometry were used to analyze the protein expression levels of G6PD, HKⅡ and cell cycle progression, respectively. Glucose oxidase method, Scratch test and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the content of glucose in the culture solution, cell invasion ability and the expression levels of G6PD and HKⅡ protein, respectively.

Results In the overexpression experiment, there was no significant change in the glucose concentration, the cell proportion in S phase or the invasive ability in the Flag-G6PD transfection group compared with the Flag transfection group. In the interference experiment, compared with the negative control transfection group, the glucose concentration of the colorectal cancer cells was significantly increased, while the cell proportion in S phase and invasive ability were significantly decreased in the G6PD-Homo-1504 transfection group. G6PD expression was positively correlated with HKⅡexpression.

Conclusion Interference with G6PD reduces glucose consumption in colorectal cancer cells and inhibits cell proliferation and invasion. G6PD may have a regulatory effect on HKⅡ.