Expression of LncRNA TCONS_00023867 in pancreatic cancer and its roles in biological functions

Abstract

Objective To verify the expression of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) TCONS_00023867 in pancreatic cancer tissue and cells, and to explore its effects on cell proliferation, invasion and migration in pancreatic cancer cells. Methods The expression of lncRNA TCONS_00023867 in human pancreatic cancer tissues, adjacent non-cancer tissues, pancreatic cancer cells (Capan-2, AsPC-1, BxPC-3, MIAPaCa-2, PANC-1) and pancreatic normal duct epithelial cell (HPDE6c-7) was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) . LncRNA TCONS_00023867 over-expression plasmid and its control plasmid PEX-3 were transfected in Capan-2 and PANC-1 cells. Then, the abilities of cell proliferation, invasion and migration were determined by using clone formation assay, CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay, respectively. Furthermore, the expression of p53 protein was examined by Western blot. Results The expression of lncRNA TCONS_00023867 in pancreatic cancer tissues was significantly lower than that in the matched adjacent pancreatic cancer tissue (ΔCt value 13.64±0.55vs 8.64±0.38, P<0.001) . Over-expression of TCONS_00023867, the experimental plate clone count of Capan-2 and PANC-1 cells were respectively lower than that in the empty plasmid vector PEX-3 group (181.3±4.667 vs 227.3±9.207, P=0.011 2) , (86.0±4.933 vs 167.2±2.603, P=0.000 1) . The proliferation ability of Capan-2 and PANC-1 was significantly reduced compared with that of the empty plasmid vector PEX-3 group. The migration ability of Capan-2 and PANC-1 was significantly reduces compared with that of the group of empty plasmid vector PEX-3 (57.6±6.809 vs 124.6±8.548, P=0.003) , (47.40±7.061 vs 105.2±10.28, P=0.001 7) . The invasion ability of Capan-2 and PANC-1 was significantly reduced compared with that of the empty plasmid vector PEX-3 group (46.0±5.033 vs 120.7±7.055, P=0.001) , (64±8.327 vs 118.0±11.53, P=0.019 2) . Through western blot experiment, the expression of p53 in Capan-2 and PANC-1 was higher than that in the group of empty plasmid vector PEX-3 (2.192±0.077 3 vs 1.007±0.018 8, P=0.000 1) , (1.816±0.163 vs 0.988±0.012 16, P=0.007 2) . Conclusions The level of TCONS_00023867 is decreased in pancreatic cancer tissues and cells. Overexpression of TCONS_00023867 decreases cell proliferation, invasion and migration in pancreatic cancer cells through increasing the level of p53. Key words: Long non-coding RNA; Pancreatic cancer; Proliferation; Invasion; Migration