Open AccessHULC long noncoding RNA silencing suppresses angiogenesis by regulating ESM-1 via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in human gliomas
Author(s) -
Yu Zhu,
Xuebin Zhang,
Lisha Qi,
Ying Cai,
Ping Yang,
Xuan Geng,
Yuan Jiang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
oncotarget
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.373
H-Index - 127
ISSN - 1949-2553
DOI - 10.18632/oncotarget.7418
Subject(s) - pi3k/akt/mtor pathway , angiogenesis , glioma , medicine , long non coding rna , cancer research , protein kinase b , cancer , oncology , downregulation and upregulation , signal transduction , biology , gene , biochemistry
Tumor angiogenesis plays a critical role in the tumor progression. Highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC) is a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that acts as an oncogene in gliomas. We found that HULC, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and ESM-1 (endothelial cell specific molecule 1) expression and microvessel density were positively correlated with grade dependency in glioma patient tissues, and that HULC silencing suppressed angiogenesis by inhibiting glioma cells proliferation and invasion. This process induced anoikis and blocked the cell cycle at G1/S phase via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, thus regulating the tumor-related genes involved in the above biological behavior in human glioma U87MG and U251 cells. However, these effects were reversed by ESM-1 overexpression, suggesting a mediating role of ESM-1 in the pro-angiogenesis effect of HULC. Our results define the mechanism of the pro-angiogenesis activity of HULC, which shows potential for application as a therapeutic target in glioma.