To determine the role of SMC1A in mediating SMIMP function, we investigated whether the inhibition of CRC cell growth and colony formation caused by sgRNA-mediated SMIMP depletion could be rescued by overexpressing SMC1A. We found that overexpressing SMC1A rescued the sgRNA-mediated loss-of-function phenotype of SMIMP as well as reversed the effect of siRNA-mediated ELFN1-AS1 depletion on cell growth and colony formation (Fig. 6g–j and Extended Data Fig. 7a–e), indicating that SMC1A is important for mediating the growth-promoting function of SMIMP. Here, ELFN1 is linked to colorectal carcinoma.