Objective: To explore the potential molecular mechanism of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) on the proliferation and migration of colorectal cancer cells. Methods: SW480 cells and RKO cells were treated with CoQ10 respectively

then cell count and cell scratch experiment were conducted to explore the effect of CoQ10 on the proliferation and migration of colorectal cancer cells. SW480 cells were treated with CoQ10 and then flow cytometry was performed to explore the effect of CoQ10 on cell cycle and apoptosis of colorectal cancer SW480 cells. In order to explore the effect of CoQ10 on gene expression profile of colorectal cancer RKO cell line

RKO cells treated with CoQ10 were analyzed by RNA-seq sequencing

and the results were analyzed by GO and KEGG pathways. Finally

quanti-tative RT-PCR was used to verify the RNA-seq results. Results: ①CoQ10 did not affect the proliferation

cell cycle

apoptosis and mi-gration of colorectal cancer cell SW480

nor did it affect the proliferation of colorectal cancer cell RKO

but it inhibited the migration of RKO. ②The RNA-seq results showed that differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in cell adhesion molecule sig-naling pathway

extracellular matrix receptor signaling pathway and cholesterol signaling pathway. Quantitative RT-PCR results showed that CoQ10 treatment did significantly up-regulate the expression of PCSK9

HMGCR

HMGCS1 and DHCR7 genes in cholesterol synthesis pathway. These results suggest that CoQ10 may inhibit RKO migration in colorectal cancer cells by regulating the expression of these genes. Conclusion: CoQ10 has no significant effect on the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells

but may inhibit the migra-tion ability of partial colorectal cancer cells by regulating cholesterol metabolism.