Long noncoding RNA HNF1A-AS1 indicates a poor prognosis of colorectal cancer and promotes carcinogenesis via activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified to play critical roles in tumorigenesis. LncRNA HNF1A-AS1 has been suggested to act as an oncogene and serves as a novel prognostic biomarker for various cancer. However, the biological role and clinical significance of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) have yet to be fully elusive. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the expression of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 in patients with CRC, the role of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 in CRC cells, as well as the underlying regulatory mechanisms. Our results indicated that the expression of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 was significantly upregulated in both CRC tumor tissues and CRC cell lines in comparison with adjacent non-tumor tissues and the human normal colonic epithelial cell line (HcoEpiC). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis further suggested that high expression of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 might be an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with CRC. Moreover, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for HNF1A-AS1 was up to 0.8714, implying that HNF1A-AS1 had diagnostic significance as it could discriminate tumor tissues from nontumorous tissues. In addition, silencing of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 abrogated the proliferation of CRC cells by MTS assay and clonogenic assay, arrested cell cycle at G0/G1 stage and reduced the migration and invasion in CRC cells. Finally, we found that decreased expression of lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 suppressed the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activity by downregulating the expression of β-catenin,cyclinD1, and c-myc. In conclusion, these findings provide evidence that lncRNA HNF1A-AS1 may be considered as a new prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in patients with CRC.

Zhang X ，Xiong Y ，Tang F ，Bian Y ，Chen Y ，Zhang F ... -  《-》

LncRNA SLCO4A1-AS1 facilitates growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer through β-catenin-dependent Wnt pathway.

Yu J ，Han Z ，Sun Z ，Wang Y ，Zheng M ，Song C ... -  《JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL & CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH》

Long non-coding RNA ROR1-AS1 induces tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer by affecting Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Recent studies have discovered that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in malignant tumors. In this research, lncRNA ROR1-AS1 was selected to identify how it affects the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). ROR1-AS1 expression was detected by RT-qPCR in CRC tissue samples. ROR1-AS1 expression level and patients' overall survival time were analyzed. Functional experiments were conducted to identify the changes of biological behaviors in CRC cells after knockdown of ROR1-AS1. Moreover, we also explored the underlying mechanism. Detection of ROR1-AS1 expression level in patients' tissues showed that ROR1-AS1 was higher in CRC tissues than that in adjacent ones. ROR1-AS1 expression was negatively associated with patients' overall survival time. Cell growth ability was inhibited due to knockdown of ROR1-AS1 in vitro. Moreover, cell migration and invasion were repressed after ROR1-AS1 knockdown. Furthermore, due to knockdown of ROR1-AS1, the targeted proteins in Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway were suppressed. These results suggest that ROR1-AS1 could enhance cell metastasis and proliferation via inducing Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which might offer a potential therapeutic target in CRC.

Wang W ，Zheng W ，Zhang L ，Li K ... -  《-》

Overexpression of lncRNA AFAP1-AS1 correlates with poor prognosis and promotes tumorigenesis in colorectal cancer.

Accumulating evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key molecules in human malignancies. The lncRNA actin filament associated protein 1 antisense RNA1 (AFAP1-AS1) was recently found deregulated in several cancers. However, its expression pattern, clinical performance and functional roles in colorectal cancer (CRC) had not been addressed. In this study, we found that AFAP1-AS1 was aberrantly over-expressed in CRC tissues and closely correlated with tumor size, TNM stage and distant metastasis. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that patients with high level of AFAP1-AS1 expression had poorer overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Univariate and multivariable Cox regression analyses further identified that up-regulated AFAP1-AS1 might act as an independent prognostic factor for CRC patients. Moreover, AFAP1-AS1 depletion resulted in the inhibition of CRC cell proliferation and colony formation. In addition, AFAP1-AS1 knockdown induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in CRC cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that AFAP1-AS1 is significantly up-regulated in CRC, which may act as an oncogene and correlate with tumor malignant progression and poor prognosis of CRC. This study may shed a new light on better understanding the pathogenesis of CRC. Moreover, AFAP1-AS1 also may be a promising diagnostic and therapeutic target for this deadly disease.

Wang F ，Ni H ，Sun F ，Li M ，Chen L ... -  《-》

Reciprocal control of lncRNA-BCAT1 and β-catenin pathway reveals lncRNA-BCAT1 long non-coding RNA acts as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer.

Xie F ，Xiang X ，Huang Q ，Ran P ，Yuan Y ，Li Q ，Qi G ，Guo X ，Xiao C ，Zheng S ... -  《Oncotarget》