PTEN and colorectal carcinoma: As shown in Figure 2A, silencing α3 in HCT-116 cells upregulated the transcript levels of PTEN and IGFBP3 but not the levels of TSC2, AMPK1 and PhLDA3, indicating that PTEN and IGFBP3 may be involved in α3-mediated metastasis of CRC.