J Cancer 2018; 9(24):4677-4683. doi:10.7150/jca.26461 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis of the Chinese Ministry of Health, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China;
2. The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion of the Chinese Ministry of Education, Cancer Research Institute and School of Basic Medical Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China;
3. Institute of Reproductive and Stem Cell Engineering, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, China;
4. Department of Plastic Surgery, Hunan Key Laboratory of Nonresolving Inflammation and Cancer, Disease Genome Research Center, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China;
5. Hunan Key Laboratory of Translational Radiation Oncology, Hunan Cancer Hospital and The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China;
6. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are dysregulated in various cancers. However, the clinical relevance and functional roles of AFAP1-AS1 in colon cancer (CC) have not been clarified. We analyzed the lncRNA expression patterns in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets and the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) RNA-seq datasets, and found that the expression level of AFAP1-AS1 was significantly elevated in CC tissues. High levels of AFAP1-AS1 were associated with poor disease-free survival and overall survival in CC patients. In vitro experiments demonstrated that AFAP1-AS1 knockdown significantly inhibited the cell invasive and migration capability in CC cell line HT-29. AFAP1-AS1 knockdown also increased the expression of E-cadherin and ZO-1 while inhibited the expression of Vimentin, MMP9, ZEB1 and β-catenin, suggesting that AFAP1-AS1 is involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of CC. Further studies confirmed that AFAP1-AS1 knockdown also affected the actin-cytokeratin signaling pathway. Thus, AFAP1-AS1 might be a potential novel diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for CC.
Keywords: long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), AFAP1 antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1), colon cancer (CC), metastasis, prognosis