Open AccessUpregulated expression of MNX1-AS1 long noncoding RNA predicts poor prognosis in gastric cancer
Author(s) -
Wei Zhang,
Lunhua Huang,
Xinyang Lu,
Kecheng Wang,
Xiaofei Ning,
Zhiqiang Liu
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
bosnian journal of basic medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1840-4812
pISSN - 1512-8601
DOI - 10.17305/bjbms.2019.3713
Subject(s) - medicine , long non coding rna , downregulation and upregulation , cancer , gene expression , cancer research , oncology , genetics , bioinformatics , gene , biology
As important regulators of gene expression long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are implicated in various physiological and pathological processes, including cancer. An oncogenic role of MNX1 antisense RNA 1 (MNX1-AS1) lncRNA has been suggested in cervical cancer and glioblastoma. In this study, we investigated the clinicopathological significance and biological function of MNX1-AS1 in gastric cancer (GC). The expression of MNX1-AS1 was analyzed by qRT-PCR in 96 GC and adjacent non-tumor tissues in relation to clinicopathological features and overall survival (OS) of patients, and in five human GC cell lines compared to a normal gastric epithelial cell line. Loss-of-function experiments using small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting MNX1-AS1 (si-MNX1-AS1) were carried out in AGS and MGC-803 GC cell lines. Cell proliferation (CCK-8 assay), migration (Transwell) and invasion (Transwell Matrigel), and protein expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin and matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) were analyzed in transfected GC cells. Expression of MNX1-AS1 was significantly higher in GC vs. adjacent non-tumor tissues. Higher MNX1-AS1 expression was significantly associated with tumor size, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that GC patients with higher MNX1-AS1 expression had worse OS compared to patients with lower MNX1-AS1 expression. Multivariate analysis showed that MNX1-AS1 is an independent poor prognostic factor in GC. Knockdown of MNX1-AS1 significantly inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion of AGS and MGC-803 cells, and resulted in increased E-cadherin and decreased PCNA, N-cadherin, vimentin and MMP-9 expression. Taken together, these results suggest that MNX1-AS1 has an oncogenic function in GC and potential as a molecular target in GC therapy.