These results suggest that the reduction of cell viability and impaired migration of CRC cell lines were due to increased apoptosis following MIR133A transfection, which was also seen in western blot analyses, as the expression of apoptotic proteins like BAX, CASP9, CASP8, and CASP3 was increased, while that of BCL2 and BIRC5 was reduced (Fig 4). Here, CASP9 is linked to colorectal carcinoma.