Objective To investigate the regulatory effect and molecular mechanism of circAPLP2 on invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer cell SW480. Methods The online database Starbase was used to predict the binding sites of circAPLP2 and miR-497-5p, and TargetScan was used to predict the binding sites of miR-497-5p and FGFR1. The relative expression levels of circAPLP2 and miR-497-5p in LoVo, DLD1, SW480, SW620, Caco-2 and HCoEpiC cells were detected by qRT-PCR, and the relative expression level of FGFR1 protein was detected by Western blotting. SW480 cells were taken and set up as follows:(1) siNC group (transfected with siControl) and sicircAPLP2 group (transfected with sicircAPLP2), the expressions of circAPLP2, miR-497-5p, FGFR1 mRNA were detected by qRT-PCR, and the expression of FGFR1 protein was detected by Western blotting.(2) Vector group (transfected with empty plasmid) and circAPLP2 group (transfected with circAPLP2 overexpression plasmid), the expressions of miR-497-5p and FGFR1 mRNA were detected by qRT-PCR, and the expression of FGFR1 protein was detected by Western blotting. (3) siNC group (transfected with siControl), sicircAPLP2 group (transfected with sicircAPLP2) and sicircAPLP2+miR-497-5p inhibitor group (transfected with sicircAPLP2 and miR-497-5p inhibitor), the cell invasion was detected by Transwell, the cell migration was detected by scratch test, and the expressions of EMT marker proteins (E-cadherin, Twist1, N-cadherin and Vimentin) were detected by Western blotting. (4) NC miRNA group (transfected with NC-miRNA) and miR-497-5p mimics group (transfected with miR-497-5p mimics), or NC-inhibitor group (transfected with NC-inhibitor) and miR-497-5p inhibitor group (transfected with miR-497-5p inhibitor), the expression of FGFR1 was detected by qRT-PCR and Western blotting.(5) pcDNA-Control group (transfected with pcDNA-Control) and pcDNA-FGFR1 group (transfected with pcDNA-FGFR1), the expression of FGFR1 protein was detected by Western blotting. (6) NC-miRNA group (transfected with negative control), miR-497-5p mimics group (transfected with miR-497-5p mimics) and miR-497-5p mimics+pcDNA-FGFR1 group (co transfected with miR-497-5p mimics and pcDNA-FGFR1), the cell invasion, migration and the expression of FGFR1 and EMT marker proteins(E-cadherin, Twist1, N-cadherin, Vimentin) were detected by Transwell, scratch test or Western blotting. The circAPLP2-WT or circAPLP2-MT report plasmid was co-transfected with NC-miRNA or miR-497-5p mimics respectively for 48 h in SW480 cells, and the FGFR1-WT or FGFR1-MT report plasmid was co-transfected with miR-497-5p mimics and circAPLP2 respectively for 48 h in SW480 cells, and the luciferase activity was detected by the luciferase reporter gene detection system. Results The analysis results by Starbase and TargetScan showed that binding sites existed between circAPLP2 and miR-497-5p, and between miR-497-5p and FGFR1. Compared with human colon epithelial cell HCoEpiC, the relative expression level of circAPLP2 in colorectal cancer cells LoVo, DLD1, SW480, SW620 and Caco-2 increased significantly, while of miR-497-5p significantly decreased, and the relative expression level of FGFR1 protein significantly increased (P<0.05). After knocking down the expression of circAPLP2, compared with siCN group, the number of invasive cells in sicircAPLP2 group decreased (P<0.001), and the cell healing rate of scratches decreased (P<0.001), the expression of E-cadherin protein increased, and the protein expressions of Twist1, N-cadherin and Vimentin decreased (P<0.05). The results of dual luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-497-5p mimics decreased circAPLP2-MT luciferase activity significantly (P<0.001); MiR-497-5p inhibitor reverses the inhibitory effect of sicircAPLP2 on EMT, migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells, as the number of invasive cells increased (P<0.001), the scratch healing rate increased (P<0.01), the expression of E-cadherin protein decreased, and the expression of Twist1, N-cadherin, and Vimentin protein increased (P<0.05). Dual luciferase reporter assay results showed that miR-497-5p mimics significantly reduced FGFR1-MT luciferase activity (P<0.001). Over-expression of FGFR1 reversed the inhibition of miR-497-5p overexpression on colorectal cancer cell migration and invasion, manifested as increased number of invasive cells (P<0.001), increased scratch healing rate (P<0.01), decreased expression of E-cadherin, increased expressions of N-cadherin, Twist1 and Vimentin (P<0.05). Conclusion The expression level of circAPLP2 increases in colorectal cancer cells, it may promote the expression of FGFR1 through competitive combination with miR-497-5p, thus promoting EMT, invasion and migration of colorectal cancer cells.