Open AccessH19 Facilitates Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma Migration and Invasion via Sponging miR-let-7
Author(s) -
Ni Kou,
Sha Li,
Xiaojie Li,
Wuwei Li,
Zhong Wang,
Lin Gui,
Songling Chai,
Xiang Ren,
Risu Na,
Tao Zeng,
Huiying Liu
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
oncology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1555-3906
pISSN - 0965-0407
DOI - 10.3727/096504018x15202945197589
Subject(s) - competing endogenous rna , cancer research , hmga2 , cell migration , biology , metastasis , microrna , cell , downregulation and upregulation , cell culture , long non coding rna , cancer , pathology , gene , medicine , biochemistry , genetics
The long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) H19 has been described to participate in the metastasis of various tumors. Nevertheless, whether H19 promotes or impedes tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cell migration and invasion remains controversial. Here we found that the expression of H19 was elevated in TSCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Moreover, we demonstrated that the expression of H19 was higher in metastasized tumors compared with unmetastasized tumors. Consistently, TSCC cells express higher levels of H19 than human squamous cells. Subsequently, depletion of H19 impaired the migration and invasion abilities of TSCC cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that H19 functions as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to sponge miRNA let-7a, leading to an increase in a let-7a target, the key regulator of tumor metastasis HMGA2, which is enriched in TSCC tissues and cell lines. Intriguingly, inhibition of let-7a significantly rescued the short hairpin H19 (shH19)-induced decrease in TSCC migration and invasion. These findings revealed that the H19/let-7a/HMGA2/EMT axis plays a critical role in the regulation of TSCC migration and invasion, which may provide a new therapeutic target for TSCC.