Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in cancer progression. However, the function of lncRNA SNHG7 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. In this study, SNHG7 expression was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues, especially in aggressive cases. In accordance, high level of SNHG7 was observed in CRC cell lines compared to normal colon cells. Furthermore, SNHG7 overexpression promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cell lines, while SNHG7 depletion inhibited invasion and cell viability in vitro. Mechanistically, knockdown of SNHG7 inhibited GALNT1 and EMT markers (E-cadherin and Vimentin). Importantly, SNHG7 directly interacted with miR-216b and downregulation of miR-216b reversed efficiently the suppression of GALNT1 induced by SNHG7 siRNA. Moreover, overexpression of SNHG7 significantly enhanced the tumorigenesis and liver metastasis of SW480 cells in vivo. SNHG7 positively regulated GALNT1 level through sponging miR-216b, and played an oncogenic role in CRC progression. Together, our study elucidated the role of SNHG7 as an miRNA sponge in CRC, and shed new light on lncRNA-directed diagnostics and therapeutics in CRC.
Highlights
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide[1]
Emerging studies have revealed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays an important role in cancer progression, and abnormal expression of lncRNA has been found in the CRC23, 24
Zhang et al reported that lncRNA CASC11 could activate the WNT/β-catenin pathway to promote cell growth and metastasis in CRC26
Summary
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide[1]. This death rate is mainly caused by distant metastasis[2]. One well understanding of the molecular mechanism in metastatic CRC is essential for the development of effective treatment strategies in CRC. NcRNAs are composed of microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). MiRNA targets its seed sequence (5′ end 2–7 nucleotides) to the 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNA, leads to mRNA degradation and plays a key role in translation inhibition[3, 4]. LncRNA is a kind of non-encoding RNA transcripts >200 nucleotides in length[5], many of which show
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