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Research Paper|Volume 12, Issue 2|pp 1843—1856

Long non-coding RNA PSMA3-AS1 promotes malignant phenotypes of esophageal cancer by modulating the miR-101/EZH2 axis as a ceRNA

Bai-Quan Qiu1, Xia-Hui Lin3, Xu-Dong Ye1, Wei Huang2, Xu Pei1, Dian Xiong1, Xiang Long1, Shu-Qiang Zhu1, Feng Lu1, Kun Lin1, Xiao-Qiang Zhang1, Jian-Jun Xu1, Lu-Lu Sheng4, Xue-Mei Zhang2, Peng-Fei Zhang2,5, Yong-Bing Wu1
  • 1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China
  • 2Department of Oncology, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
  • 3Department of Oncology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • 4Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, China
  • 5Department of Medical Oncology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
* Equal contribution
Received: September 6, 2019Accepted: January 2, 2020Published: January 31, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102716

Copyright: © 2020 Qiu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Backgrounds: Emerging evidences has demonstrated that dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is critically involved in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) progression. However, the function of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 in ESCC is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to explore the functions and potential mechanisms of PSMA3-AS1 in ESCC cells progression.

Results: Here, we found that PSMA3-AS1 expression was significantly up-regulated in ESCC tissues. Forced PSMA3-AS1 expression was correlated with tumor size, distant metastasis, and poor prognosis in ESCC patients. Functionally, PSMA3-AS1-overexpression promoted ESCC cells proliferation, invasion, and migration in vitro. Mechanistically, PSMA3-AS1 up-regulated EZH2 expression by competitively binding to miR-101.

Conclusion: PSMA3-AS1 is significantly up-regulated in ESCC tissues, and the PSMA3-AS1/miR-101/EZH2 axis plays a critical role in ESCC progression. Taken together, our results may provide promising targets for ESCC therapy.

Methods: PSMA3-AS1 and miR-101 expression were explored using qRT-PCR in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Immunohistochemistry assays were carried out to analyze EZH2 (enhancer of zeste homolog) protein expression. RIP, dual-luciferase reporter, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and biotin pull-down assays were used to detect the interactions of PSMA3-AS1, miR-101 and EZH2. The biological functions of PSMA3-AS1 in PSMA3-AS1-altered cells were explored using CCK-8, colony formation, wound healing, and transwell assays in vitro.