The long non-coding RNA HOTAIR indicates a poor prognosis and promotes metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer

BMC Cancer

Xiang-hua Liu¹  Zhi-li Liu²  Ming Sun¹  Jing Liu²  Zhao-xia Wang²  Wei De¹ 

[1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, People’s Republic of China

[2] Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210011, People’s Republic of China

关键词: Metastasis;    Prognosis;    Non-small cell lung cancer;    HOTAIR;    Long non-coding RNA;   

Others  :  1079528
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2407-13-464

 received in 2013-01-24, accepted in 2013-10-02,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

The identification of cancer-associated long non-coding RNAs and the investigation of their molecular and biological functions are important for understanding the molecular biology and progression of cancer. HOTAIR (HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA) has been implicated in several cancers; however, its role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine the expression pattern of HOTAIR in NSCLC and to evaluate its biological role and clinical significance in tumor progression.

Methods

Expression of HOTAIR was analyzed in 42 NSCLC tissues and four NSCLC cell lines by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Over-expression and RNA interference (RNAi) approaches were used to investigate the biological functions of HOTAIR. The effect of HOTAIR on proliferation was evaluated by MTT and colony formation assays, and cell migration and invasion were evaluated by transwell assays. Tail vein injection of cells was used to study metastasis in nude mice. Protein levels of HOTAIR targets were determined by western blot analysis. Differences between groups were tested for significance using Student’s t-test (two-tailed).

Results

HOTAIR was highly expressed both in NSCLC samples and cell lines compared with corresponding normal counterparts. HOTAIR upregulation was correlated with NSCLC advanced pathological stage and lymph-node metastasis. Moreover, patients with high levels of HOTAIR expression had a relatively poor prognosis. Inhibition of HOTAIR by RNAi decreased the migration and invasion of NSCLC cells in vitro and impeded cell metastasis in vivo. HOXA5 levels were affected by HOTAIR knockdown or over-expression in vitro.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that HOTAIR is significantly up-regulated in NSCLC tissues, and regulates NSCLC cell invasion and metastasis, partially via the down-regulation of HOXA5. Thus, HOTAIR may represent a new marker of poor prognosis and is a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC intervention.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Liu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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