Abstract
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a kind of malignancy generated from the nasopharyngeal epithelium. Recently, long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has been shown to be involved in the regulation of many signaling pathways and is closely associated with carcinogenesis and tumor progression. However, the precise role of lncRNA Opa-interacting protein 5 antisense RNA 1 (OIP5-AS1) in NPC is not well understood. Here, we find that OIP5-AS1 is overexpressed in NPC patient specimens and NPC cell lines. Further investigations reveal that knockdown of OIP5-AS1 significantly inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion and accelerates the apoptosis of NPC cells in vitro. Consistent with these findings, NPC progression is significantly slowed in mice when OIP5-AS1 is knocked down. Interestingly, there is a functional link between OIP5-AS1 and microRNA-203 (miR-203), a tumor suppressor, in NPC cells. In conclusion, our data demonstrate that OIP5-AS1 plays an important role in the development and progression of NPC by targeting miR-203 and therefore provide a promising target for the treatment of NPC.
Highlights
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy of the epithelium located in the nasopharynx, which is very common in South China and Southeast Asia, presenting a distinct geographical distribution in occurrence [1]
The level of OIP5-AS1 was significantly higher in several NPC cell lines than in the nasopharyngeal epithelium cell NP69 (Figure 1(b))
NPC patients were divided into a high group and a low group according to the median of OIP5-AS1 expression
Summary
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy of the epithelium located in the nasopharynx, which is very common in South China and Southeast Asia, presenting a distinct geographical distribution in occurrence [1]. A large amount of NPC patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage due to the special anatomical location and inconspicuous early symptoms [3]. Radiation therapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy is widely used to treat NPC [4]. The overall survival rate is gradually improved, the side effects of these strategies seriously affect the life quality of NPC patients [5]. It is important to deeply explore the biological mechanism and find new therapeutic targets for NPC
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