Up-regulation of LncRNA SNHG20 Predicts Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Overexpression of YTHDF1 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

In China, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in men, followed by lung and stomach cancer. There was an urgent need to identify novel prognostic biomarkers for HCC. We explored the expression pattern of m6A related proteins in HCC tissues by using TCGA in this study. We found that the m6A 'reader' YTHDF1 was significantly upregulated in HCC and was positive correlated with pathology stage. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that Lower YTHDF1 expression level was associated with better survival of HCC patients. Furthermore, we performed GO and KEGG pathway analysis of YTHDF1 co-expressed genes and found YTHDF1 played an important role in regulating HCC cell cycle progression and metabolism. We believed that this study will provide a potential new therapeutic and prognostic target for HCC.

Long non-coding RNA SNHG20 promotes bladder cancer via activating the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway

The long non‑coding RNA, small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20), is involved in promoting several common types of human cancer, however, the exact function of SNHG20 in the pathogenesis of bladder cancer remains to be elucidated. The present study aimed to examine the regulatory mechanism of SNHG20 underlying the malignant progression of bladder cancer. Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were used to examine mRNA and protein expression. Cell survival, proliferation, apoptosis, colony formation, migration and invasion were also studied. The resulting data indicated that SNHG20 was significantly upregulated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines, compared with its expression in adjacent non‑tumour tissues and the SV‑HUC‑1 normal urinary tract epithelial cell line, respectively. In addition, the high expression of SNHG20 was associated with advanced clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and reduced patient survival rate. The knockdown of SNHG20 caused a significant reduction in cancer cell survival, proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, and induced cell apoptosis. Additionally, the inhibition of SNHG20 reduced tumour growth in vivo. Investigations into the mechanism revealed that the inhibition of SNHG20 suppressed the activation of Wnt/β‑catenin signalling and the expression of certain key genes in bladder cancer cells. Taken together, these results indicated that SNHG20 is involved in promoting bladder cancer and may be used as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of this disease.

Prospects of Noncoding RNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a global health problem and one of the most common malignant tumors. Recent studies have shown that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) contribute to the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). These RNAs may be involved in a variety of pathological processes such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. In addition, abnormal expression of ncRNAs in HCC may provide potential prognostic or diagnostic biomarkers. This review provides an overview of the role and potential applications of ncRNAs, miRNAs, lncRNAs, circRNAs, and snoRNAs in liver cancer.

The emergence of long non-coding RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma: an update

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounting for roughly 90% of all primary liver neoplasms is the sixth most frequent neoplasm and the second prominent reason of tumor fatality worldwide. As regulators of diverse biological processes, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in onset and development of neoplasms. With the continuous booming of well-featured lncRNAs in HCC from 2016 to now, we reviewed the newly-presented comprehension about the relationship between lncRNAs and HCC in this study. To be specific, we summarized the overview function and study tools of lncRNAs, elaborated the roles of lncRNAs in HCC, and sketched the molecule mechanisms of lncRNAs in HCC. In addition, the application of lncRNAs serving as biomarkers in early diagnosis and outcome prediction of HCC patients was highlighted.

Characterization of long non-coding RNAs to reveal potential prognostic biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma

Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays critical roles in a variety of biological processes. Recent studies have documented that lncRNAs can function as potential biomarkers in cancer prognosis, however, little is known in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To identify lncRNA signatures that have prognostic values in HCC, we analyzed lncRNA expression profiles of 364 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. A set of four lncRNAs was identified to be significantly associated with the overall survival. Based on the four-lncRNA signature, HCC patients can be classified into high- and low-risk subgroups with significantly different survival. This result can be further validated in the testing set and another independent HCC data. Further analyses showed that the prognostic value of four-lncRNA signature was independent of other clinicopathological factors. The potential functions of candidate lncRNAs were further examined using HCC cell lines, suggesting these lncRNAs might contribute to tumor development of HCC. This work indicated that lncRNA signature could be a useful marker to determine the diagnosis and predict the prognosis of HCC.

Behind the curtain of non-coding RNAs; long non-coding RNAs regulating hepatocarcinogenesis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and aggressive cancers worldwide. HCC is the fifth common malignancy in the world and the second leading cause of cancer death in Asia. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNAs with a length greater than 200 nucleotides that do not encode proteins. lncRNAs can regulate gene expression and protein synthesis in several ways by interacting with DNA, RNA and proteins in a sequence specific manner. They could regulate cellular and developmental processes through either gene inhibition or gene activation. Many studies have shown that dysregulation of lncRNAs is related to many human diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, genetic disorders, neurological diseases, immune mediated disorders and cancers. However, the study of lncRNAs is challenging as they are poorly conserved between species, their expression levels aren't as high as that of mRNAs and have great interpatient variations. The study of lncRNAs expression in cancers have been a breakthrough as it unveils potential biomarkers and drug targets for cancer therapy and helps understand the mechanism of pathogenesis. This review discusses many long non-coding RNAs and their contribution in HCC, their role in development, metastasis, and prognosis of HCC and how to regulate and target these lncRNAs as a therapeutic tool in HCC treatment in the future.

Up-regulation of long non-coding RNA SNHG20 promotes ovarian cancer progression via Wnt/β-catenin signaling

Long non-coding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20) has been demonstrated to play crucial regulatory roles in many types of cancer. However, the biological function of long ncRNA (lncRNA) SNHG20 in ovarian cancer is still unclear. In the present study, we found that lncRNA SNHG20 was significantly increased in ovarian cancer. In addition, lncRNA SNHG20 knockdown suppressed the ovarian cancer progression, whereas overexpression of SNHG20 showed the opposite effects. Moreover, our results also revealed that lncRNA SNHG20 knockdown inhibited Wnt/β-catenin signaling activity by suppressing β-catenin expression and reversing the downstream target gene expression. Taken together, lncRNA SNHG20 plays an pivotal role in ovarian cancer progression by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

MicroRNA-493-5p promotes apoptosis and suppresses proliferation and invasion in liver cancer cells by targeting VAMP2

The aim of the present study was to explore the role of miR‑493-5p in liver cancer tissues and cell lines, and its effect on cell behavioral characteristics. The expression of miR-493-5p was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in liver cancer tissues and cell lines (hepatic cell line HL-7702 and the liver cancer cell lines HCCC-9810, HuH-7 and HepG2). In addition, the mechanism by which miR-493-5p mediates its effects was analyzed via the transfection of miR-493-5p mimic and negative control miRNA into HepG2 cells. The viability, proliferation, apoptosis and invasion of the cells were analyzed using MTT assay, flow cytometry and Transwell chamber experiments. Furthermore, the effect of miR-493-5p on the expression of vesicle associated membrane protein 2 (VAMP2) was assayed using a dual-luciferase reporter system, and VAMP2 protein levels were determined by western blot analysis. In addition, following the cotransfection of HepG2 cells with pcDNA3.1‑VAMP2 plasmid and miR‑493-5p mimic, the role of miR-493-5p as a regulator of VAMP2 was evaluated using MTT assay, flow cytometry and Transwell chamber experiments. RT-qPCR analysis indicated that the expression of miR-493-5p in liver cancer tissues and cell lines was decreased significantly compared with that in adjacent normal liver tissues and normal liver cell lines, respectively. Compared with the control group, the cells transfected with miR-493-5p mimic (the miR-493-5p overexpression group) exhibited reduced cell viability, a reduced percentage of cells in the S phase and an increased percentage of apoptotic cells. In addition, fewer cells passed through the Transwell membrane in the miR-493-5p overexpression group compared with the control group. In the dual-luciferase reporter assay, luciferase activity in the miR‑493-5p overexpression group was attenuated compared with that in the control group. In addition, western blot analysis indicated that the VAMP2 protein levels in the miR‑493-5p overexpression group were lower than those in the control group. Furthermore, in cells overexpressing miR-493-5p and VAMP2 simultaneously, the biological behavior of the cells, including cell viability, cell cycle and cell invasiveness, was significantly rescued compared with that of the control group transfected with miR‑493-5p alone. In conclusion, miR-493-5p is indicated to be a tumor suppressor gene, and is downregulated in human liver cancer. miR-493-5p overexpression promotes cell apoptosis and inhibits the proliferation and migration of liver cancer cells by negatively regulating the expression of VAMP. These observations suggest the potential of treating liver cancer by the overexpression of microRNA-493-5p.

HOXD-AS1 promotes cell proliferation, migration and invasion through miR-608/FZD4 axis in ovarian cancer

Evidence is accumulating that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) exert crucial roles in the incidence and progression of tumors. HOXD cluster antisense RNA 1 (HOXD-AS1), a cancer-related lncRNA, has been frequently reported to be involved in tumorigenesis and dysregulated in multiple types of human cancers; however, little is known about its role in ovarian cancer (OC). This study aimed to explore the role of HOXD-AS1 in OC and elucidate the potential mechanism involved. In the current study, HOXD-AS1 was observed to be upregulated in both OC tissues and cell lines. Besides, elevated expression of HOXD-AS1 was found to be associated with poor prognosis of OC patients. Furthermore, functional studies demonstrated that HOXD-AS1 promoted OC cell proliferation and colony formation, and enhanced the migration and invasion capabilities of OC cells. Mechanistically, HOXD-AS1 was detected to positively regulate the expression of frizzled family receptor 4 (FZD4) by competitively binding to miR-608. Taken together, HOXD4-AS1 exerts tumor-promoting functions through miR-608/FZD4 axis in OC. Our findings indicate that HOXD-AS1 may be used as a promising therapeutic target and a novel prognostic biomarker for OC.

Functional role of lncRNA LOC101927497 in N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine-induced malignantly transformed human gastric epithelial cells

AIMS

Evidence shows that aberrant expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is closely associated with tumor development and progression. However, the role of lncRNA in environmental carcinogen induced gastric tumorigenesis remains largely unknown. This study aimed at investigating the function role of lncRNA in N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) induce malignantly transformed human gastric epithelial cells.

MAIN METHODS

In this study, high-throughput sequencing and qRT-PCR assay revealed marked downregulation of lncRNA LOC101927497 in the malignant transformed gastric epithelial cells induced by MNNG (GES-1-T cells), gain-of-function and loss-of-function assays showed that LOC101927497 can suppress the proliferation and migration of GES-1-T cells in vitro. RNA antisense purification experiment showed that LOC101927497 interacted with miR-574-5p in GES-1-T cells the most obvious. Further studies suggested that LOC101927497 may function as a tumor suppressor by interacting with miR-574-5p.

KEY FINDINGS

LncRNA LOC101927497 functions as a suppressor by interacting with miR-574-5p, thus inhibiting the malignant phenotype of GES-1-T cells.

SIGNIFICANCE

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the role of lncRNA in MNNG-induced gastric tumorigenesis, and it will provide new insights into the role of lncRNA in environmental carcinogen-induced gastric cancer.

Dysregulated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in hepatocellular carcinoma: implications for tumorigenesis, disease progression, and liver cancer stem cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumours with a poor prognosis worldwide. While early stage tumours can be treated with curative approaches such as liver transplantation or surgical resection, these are only suitable for a minority of patients. Those with advanced stage disease are only suitable for supportive approaches and most are resistant to the conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) are a small subset of cancer cells with unlimited differentiation ability and tumour forming potential. In order to develop novel therapeutic approaches for HCC, we need to understand how the cancer develops and why treatment resistance occurs. Using high-throughput sequencing techniques, a large number of dysregulated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified, and some of which are closely linked to key aspects of liver cancer pathology, progression, outcomes and for the maintenance of cancer stem cell-like properties. In addition, some lncRNAs are potential biomarkers for HCC diagnosis and may serve as the therapeutic targets. This review summarizes data recently reported lncRNAs that might be critical for the maintenance of the biological properties of LCSCs.

Long non-coding RNA SNHG20 promotes non-small cell lung cancer cell proliferation and migration by epigenetically silencing of P21 expression

Mounting evidence demonstrates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are novel transcripts governing multiple biological processes, and their dysregulation is involved in the development and progression of multiple types of cancers. Small Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 20 (SNHG20) is a 2183 bp lncRNA, and its overexpression predicts poor prognosis in colorectal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the clinical relevance of SNHG20 and its molecular mechanisms affecting cancer cell phenotype have not been documented. Here, we found that SNHG20 was upregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues compared with normal samples. Higher SNHG20 expression was significantly associated with advanced tumor, lymph node and metastases (TNM) stage and tumor size, as well as poorer overall survival. Moreover, knockdown of SNHG20 repressed NSCLC cell proliferation, migration and induced cell apoptosis. Mechanistic investigations revealed that SNHG20 could interact with EZH2 (enhancer of zeste homolog 2), thereby repressing P21 expression. Furthermore, rescue experiments indicated that SNHG20 functioned as an oncogene partly via repressing p21 in NSCLC cells. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that SNHG20 is a new candidate for use in NSCLC diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.

Long noncoding RNA SNHG20 promotes gastric cancer progression by inhibiting p21 expression and regulating the GSK-3β/ β-catenin signaling pathway

Recent studies have indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important regulatory roles in tumor development and progression. However, the contribution of small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20) to gastric cancer development remains largely unknown. The aim of the study is to investigate the functional significance of SNHG20 involved in gastric cancer (GC) progression. In the study, our results demonstrated that the expression levels of SNHG20 were remarkably up-regulated in GC cells. Functionally, SNHG20 promoted the GC MKN45 and BGC-823 cells proliferation and invasion. Furthermore, knockdown of SNHG20 significantly inhibited the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in MKN45 and BGC-823 cells, whereas, the overexpression of SNHG20 had the promoting effects. Moreover, we found that overexpression of SNHG20 in MKN45 and BGC-823 cells significantly inhibited the expression of E-cadherin and p21 via binding to EZH2 and regulated the GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway. Thus, the results showed that SNHG20 acted as an oncogene in GC and targeting SNHG20 may serve as a therapeutic target for GC.

Long non-coding RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma: Potential roles and clinical implications

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a subgroup of non-coding RNA transcripts greater than 200 nucleotides in length with little or no protein-coding potential. Emerging evidence indicates that lncRNAs may play important regulatory roles in the pathogenesis and progression of human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Certain lncRNAs may be used as diagnostic or prognostic markers for HCC, a serious malignancy with increasing morbidity and high mortality rates worldwide. Therefore, elucidating the functional roles of lncRNAs in tumors can contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of HCC and may help in developing novel therapeutic targets. In this review, we summarize the recent progress regarding the functional roles of lncRNAs in HCC and explore their clinical implications as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers and molecular therapeutic targets for HCC.

lncRNAs as prognostic molecular biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The latest studies have shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be considered markers as their expression levels were abnormal in cancer and can be used as a molecular biomarker for the potential assessment of cancer prognosis. In this study, we aimed to assess the prognostic value of lncRNA as marker of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. We performed a detailed search of the PubMed and Embase databases for articles on the prognostic value of various lncRNAs in HCC. We then carefully extracted the relevant data from the articles, and we used the meta-analysis method to analyze these results; heterogeneity and publication bias were also evaluated. With 40 associative studies included, we found that high expression of 27 types of lncRNA was associated with a poor prognosis in HCC patients, and low expression of 18 types of lncRNAs was associated with a worse prognosis. Patients with higher lncRNA expression had significantly poor overall survival (OS; pooled HR, 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03–1.52) as well as significantly poor recurrence-free survival (RFS; pooled HR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.26–2.17). Overexpression of lncRNAs may not meaningfully predict disease-free survival (DFS; pooled HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.52–2.07; p = 0.91). Our meta-analysis demonstrated that lncRNAs may serve as predictive biomarkers for cancer prognosis.

The long non-coding RNA SNHG3 functions as a competing endogenous RNA to promote malignant development of colorectal cancer

Accumulating evidence has revealed that aberrantly expressed long non-coding transcripts are involved in the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). Small nucleolar RNA host gene 3 (SNHG3) is a newly identified lncRNA, and little is known about its clinical significance and biological functions in the development of CRC. In the present study, we found that the expression of SNHG3 was significantly upregulated in CRC, and upregulation of SNHG3 predicted poor prognosis for patients with CRC as determined through analysis of the data obtained from TCGA database. Gain-of function and loss-of function assays revealed that SNHG3 markedly promoted cellular proliferation of CRC cells. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) suggested that high expression of SNHG3 was positively associated with c-Myc and its targets genes. Furthermore, ectopic overexpression of SNHG3 increased the expression of c-Myc and its target genes, whereas inhibition of SNHG3 had opposite effect on the expression of c-Myc and its targets. Mechanistic investigations demonstrated that SNHG3 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to ‘sponge’ miR-182-5p, thus leading to the release of c-Myc from miR-182-5p and modulating the expression of c-Myc. In conclusion, SNHG3 promoted CRC progression via sponging miR-182-5p and upregulating c-Myc and its target genes.

Long non-coding RNA SNHG20 predicts a poor prognosis for HCC and promotes cell invasion by regulating the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

BACKGROUND

Recently, Accumulating evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to have critical regulatory roles in human tumor biology and development. However, the expression pattern and biological function of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown.

METHODS

The expression of SNHG20 in 96 paired HCC tissues and cell lines were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank test was used to reveal the association between SNHG20 expression and the overall survival time in HCC patients. CCK8 cell proliferation and transwell invasion assays were performed to analyze the cell proliferation and cell invasion ability. QRT-PCR and western-blotting analysis were performed to demonstrate the mRNA levels and protein expression of ZEB1, ZEB2 and relative epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin).

RESULTS

We showed that the expression level of SNHG20 was significantly up-regulated in 96 pairs of HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Higher SNHG20 expression was positively correlated with larger tumor size and advanced TNM stage, and negatively correlated with the over survival (OS) time for HCC patients. In vitro, loss-function assays revealed that knockdown of SNHG20 inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, whereas, gain-of-function promoted cell proliferation and invasion. Furthermore, knockdown of SNHG20 inhibited ZEB1, ZEB2, N-cadherin and Vimentin expression and up-regulated the E-cadherin expression in HCC cells. Mechanistic investigation revealed that SNHG20 could bind to enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and regulated E-cadherin expression.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that the SNHG20/EZH2/E-cadhein regulator pathway might contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for HCC patients.

New Insights into the Epigenetics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most predominant malignancies with high fatality rate. This deadly cancer is rising at an alarming rate because it is quite resistant to radio- and chemotherapy. Different epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modifications, DNA methylation, chromatin remodeling, and expression of noncoding RNAs drive the cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, initiation, progression, and development of HCC. These epigenetic alterations because of potential reversibility open way towards the development of biomarkers and therapeutics. The contribution of these epigenetic changes to HCC development has not been thoroughly explored yet. Further research on HCC epigenetics is necessary to better understand novel molecular-targeted HCC treatment and prevention. This review highlights latest research progress and current updates regarding epigenetics of HCC, biomarker discovery, and future preventive and therapeutic strategies to combat the increasing risk of HCC.

C-MYC-induced upregulation of lncRNA SNHG12 regulates cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration in triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive subtypes of breast cancer, with a significantly higher recurrence and mortality rate. There is an urgent need to uncover the mechanism underlying TNBC and establish therapeutic targets. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in a series of biological functions and provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism of cancer. Based on their expression specificity and large number, lncRNAs are likely to serve as the basis for clinical applications in oncology. In our previous study, we utilized RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to explore the lncRNAs expression profiles in TNBC and identified that small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) was remarkably increased in TNBC. However, the role of SNHG12 in TNBC has not been clarified. Herein, we determine that SNHG12 is upregulated in TNBC, and its high expression is significantly correlated with tumor size and lymph node metastasis. Mechanistic investigations show that SNHG12 is a direct transcriptional target of c-MYC. Silencing SNHG12 expression inhibits TNBC cells proliferation and apoptosis promotion, whereas SNHG12 overexpression has the opposite effect. In addition, we reveal that SNHG12 may promote cells migration by regulating MMP13 expression. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report indicating that SNHG12 is involved in breast cancer. Taken together, our findings suggest that SNHG12 contributes to the oncogenic potential of TNBC and may be a promising therapeutic target.

Long non-coding RNA expression profiles predict clinical phenotypes of seminoma and yolk sac tumor

Malignant germ cell tumors (GCTs) such as seminoma and yolk sac tumor cause serious health problems but with favorable prognosis if they were diagnosed timely.

Integrated analysis of long non-coding RNA‑associated ceRNA network reveals potential lncRNA biomarkers in human lung adenocarcinoma

Accumulating evidence has highlighted the important roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) acting as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) in tumor biology. However, the roles of cancer specific lncRNAs in lncRNA-related ceRNA network of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are still unclear. In the present study, the 465 RNA sequencing profiles in LUAD patients were obtained from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) database, which provides large sample RNA sequencing data free of charge, and 41 cancer specific lncRNAs, 25 miRNAs and 1053 mRNAs (fold change >2, p<0.05) were identified. Then, the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network of LUAD was constructed with 29 key lncRNAs, 24 miRNAs and 72 mRNAs. Subsequently, we selected these 29 key lncRNAs to analyze their correlation with clinical features, and 21 of them were aberrantly expressed with tumor pathological stage, TNM staging system, lymph node metastasis and patient outcome assessment, respectively. Furthermore, there were 5 lncRNAs (BCRP3, LINC00472, CHIAP2, BMS1P20 and UNQ6494) positively correlated with overall survival (OS, log-rank p<0.05). Finally, 7 cancer specific lncRNAs were randomly selected to verify the expression in 53 newly diagnosed LUAD patients using qRT-PCR. The expression results between TCGA and qRT-PCR were 100% in agreement. The correlation between AFAP1-AS1 and LINC00472 and clinical features were also confirmed. Thus, our results showed the lncRNA expression profiles and we constructed an lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network in LUAD. The present study provides novel insight for better understanding of lncRNA-related ceRNA network in LUAD and facilitates the identification of potential biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis.

Increased long noncoding RNA SNHG20 predicts poor prognosis in colorectal cancer

Background

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been suggested to be involved in the development and progression of malignancies. However, the investigation of small nucleolar RNA host gene 20 (SNHG20) on cancer progression remains unknown. The present study aims to explore the clinical significance of SNHG20 and its potential molecular mechanism in colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods

Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to measure the SNHG20 expression in a total of 107 CRC tissues and CRC cell lines. Loss of function approach was employed to explore the biological roles of SNHG20 in vitro. Its potential molecular mechanism was further verified by western blotting and qRT-PCR.

Results

The results suggested that SNHG20 expression was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues compared to corresponding normal tissues from 107 CRC patients. High expression of SNHG20 was remarkably associated with advanced TNM stage in patients with CRC. Multivariate analyses unraveled that SNHG20 expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in CRC patients. Further functional assays revealed that knockdown of SNHG20 suppressed cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and cell cycle progression in CRC cells. Moreover, SNHG20 regulated cell growth through modulation of a series of cell cycle-associated genes.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that dysregulation of SNHG20 participates in CRC progression and may serve as a potential therapeutic target in CRC patients.