Overexpression of the long non-coding RNA SPRY4-IT1 promotes tumor cell proliferation and invasion by activating EZH2 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Increasing evidences have demonstrated that the dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may act as an important role in tumor progression. The long non-coding RNA SPRY4 intronic transcript 1 (SPRY4-IT1) has been reported in some cancer including regulating cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and cancer progression. However, the expression and function of SPRY4-IT1 in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain largely unknown. The lncRNA SPRY4-IT1 was detected by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) in HCC cell lines, CCK8 cell proliferation and transwell invasion assays were performed to detect the GC cell proliferation and invasion abilities. The protein expression of E-cadherin, Vimentin and Twist1 was analyzed by Western blotting assays. Furthermore, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays were used to analyze potential molecular mechanism of SPRY4-IT1 in HCC cells. We found that SPRY4-IT1 was up-regulated in HCC cell lines. Further function analysis demonstrated that knockdown of SPRY4-IT1 significantly inhibited HCC cells proliferation and invasion, but over-expression of SPRY4-IT1 had the opposite effects on HCC cells in vitro. Moreover, our results also indicated that SPRY4-IT1 over-expression significantly promoted the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by up-regulating the transcription factor Twist1 and EMT marker Vimentin and inhibited the E-cadherin expression in MHCC97L cell. Whereas, knockdown of SPRY4-IT1 suppressed the transcription factor Twist1 and EMT marker Vimentin and increased the E-cadherin expression in MHCC97H cells. Mechanisms investigations showed that SPRY4-IT1 interacted with the EZH2 and epigenetically repressed the E-cadherin expression. In vivo, we also demonstrated that the tumor growth was inhibited in SPRY4-IT1 knockdown group compared with the control group. These results suggested that lncRNA SPRY4-IT1 might be considered as a therapeutic target in HCC.

Zhou M ，Zhang XY ，Yu X 《-》

Long non-coding RNA SPRY4-IT1 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition of cervical cancer by regulating the miR-101-3p/ZEB1 axis.

Fan MJ ，Zou YH ，He PJ ，Zhang S ，Sun XM ，Li CZ ... -  《-》

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

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

Liu J ，Lu C ，Xiao M ，Jiang F ，Qu L ，Ni R ... -  《-》

Long noncoding RNA SPRY4-IT1 promotes proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma via mediating TNF signaling pathway.

Our previous studies have indicated that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) SPRY4 intronic transcript 1 (SPRY4-IT1) was highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it still remained unclear how SPRY4-IT1 worked in tumorgenesis in HCC. In this study, we tested the overexpression of SPRY4-IT1 in HCC tissues and cells through a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Statistical analyses showed that the upregulation had an association with the tumor node metastasis stage, thrombin time, and alkaline phosphatase. Furthermore, SPRY4-IT1 could be involved in cell proliferation, metastasis, and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in HCC in vitro and in vivo. RNA-sequencing and transcriptome analysis were carried out to explore the mechanism of SPRY4-IT1 in HCC. With SPRY4-IT1 being knocked down or overexpressed, the level of proteins in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway changed. We detected the RNA binding protein heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L (HNRNPL) as a SPRY4-IT1 interacting protein through RNA pull-down assay and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, then verified through RNA immunoprecipitation. Downregulation of HNRNPL induced the change of proteins observed on SPRY4-IT1 downregulation revealing the SPRY4-IT1: HNRNPL complex in the TNF signaling pathway and EMT process in HCC. In general, our experimental data and analysis demonstrated the role of SPRY4-IT1 in promoting progress and metastasis of HCC by the TNF signaling pathway.

Ma W ，Chen X ，Wu X ，Li J ，Mei C ，Jing W ，Teng L ，Tu H ，Jiang X ，Wang G ，Chen Y ，Wang K ，Wang H ，Wei Y ，Liu Z ，Yuan Y ... -  《-》

Decreased long non-coding RNA SPRY4-IT1 contributes to ovarian cancer cell metastasis partly via affecting epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Yu J ，Han Q ，Cui Y 《-》