Long noncoding RNA LINC01426 promotes glioma progression through PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and serves as a prognostic biomarker.

Abstract

Growing evidence indicated that long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 1426 (LINC01426) played important roles in tumor initiation and progression. However, little was known about the expression pattern and biological function of LINC01426 in glioma. Here, we aimed to determine its expression pattern, clinicopathological significance, and biological roles in glioma. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data was used to screen abnormally expressed lncRNAs in glioma. Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect the expression of LINC01426 in both glioma tissues and cell lines. Then, the associations between LINC01426 expression levels and various clinicopathologic characteristics and the clinical prognosis of patients with glioma were analyzed. The loss-of-function assay was performed to explore the effect of LINC01426 on glioma proliferation, metastasis, and apoptosis. Western blotting was performed to assess the protein expression levels. We identified a differentially expressed novel oncogenic lncRNA termed as LINC01426 by TCGA. Subsequent RT-PCT indicated that LINC01426 expression was significantly up-regulated in both glioma tissues and cell lines. Increased LINC01426 expression was negatively correlated with WHO grade and KPS score. Furthermore, LINC01426 could serve as an independent predictor for overall survival in glioma. In vitro assay revealed that knockdown of LINC01426 suppressed glioma cells proliferation, migration and invasion, and induced apoptosis. Mechanistic investigation showed that LINC01426 exhibited its tumor promoter role by modulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in glioma. The present study indicated that LINC01426 functioned as a tumor promoter and it might be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in glioma.