Abstract
Background: Accumulating studies discloses that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve important roles in human tumorigenesis, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The purpose of the present study was to determine the role of lncRNA FEZF1-AS1 in NPC.Materials and methods: The expression levels of FEZF1-AS1 in NPC tissues and cell lines were detected by RT-qPCR analysis. MTT assay was performed to investigate the proliferation of NPC cells in vitro, whereas the migration and invasion of NPC cells were determined by wound healing assay and transwell assay. A nude mouse tumor model was established to study the role of FEZF1-AS1 in NPC tumorigenesis in vivo. The expression levels of proteins were detected by Western blot assay.Results: The results showed that FEZF1-AS1 expression was increased in the NPC tissues and cell lines, and the higher expression of FEZF1-AS1 was closely associated with poor prognosis of NPC patients. We further observed that knockdown of FEZF1-AS1 inhibited the proliferation of NPC cells in vitro and suppressed NPC xenograft growth in vivo through inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest. The migratory and invasive abilities of NPC cells were also reduced upon FEZF1-AS1 knockdown. Moreover, we demonstrated that inhibition of FEZF1-AS1 remarkably suppressed epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and reduced β-catenin accumulation in nucleus in NPC cells.Conclusions: Collectively, we showed that FEZF1-AS1 might be a key regulator of cell cycle, EMT and Wnt/β-catenin signaling in NPC cells, which may be helpful for understanding of pathogenesis of NPC.
Highlights
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy in most parts of the world but is common in China [1]
To further confirm the up-regulation of FEZF1-AS1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), we measured its expression in a panel of NPC cell lines, and the results showed that five NPC cell lines expressed higher levels of FEZF1-AS1 than NP69 cells (Figure 1D)
Recent studies indicated that dysregulation of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression is implicated in the development of NPC by functioning as tumor suppressors or oncogenes [12]
Summary
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy in most parts of the world but is common in China [1]. As a well-known member of lncRNAs, FEZ family zinc finger 1 antisense RNA 1 (FEZF1-AS1), mapped to 7q31.32 genomic region, is reported to be overexpressed in multiple human cancers, including colorectal carcinoma [7], osteosarcoma [8] and c 2018 The Author(s). Accumulating studies discloses that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve important roles in human tumorigenesis, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Conclusions: Collectively, we showed that FEZF1-AS1 might be a key regulator of cell cycle, EMT and Wnt/β-catenin signaling in NPC cells, which may be helpful for understanding of pathogenesis of NPC
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