J Cancer 2021; 12(2):530-538. doi:10.7150/jca.51136 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Department of Molecular Pathology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450008, China.
2. Department of Medical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
3. Institute of Medical and Pharmaceutical Science, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
4. Department of Physical Examination, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
#These authors contributed equally to this study.
Recently, ample evidence indicated that numerous aberrantly expressed long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participated in the development of multiple malignancies. However, the expression and function of lncRNA LOXL1-AS1 in mediating esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) carcinogenesis remains largely elusive. Here we validated that LOXL1-AS1 was significantly upregulated in ESCC tissues compared with the corresponding adjacent non-neoplastic tissues, and LOXL1-AS1 expression was positively correlated with ESCC patients' lymph node metastasis. Besides, LOXL1-AS1 knockdown impaired ESCC cells proliferation, migration and invasion capabilities in vitro. Furthermore, inhibiting LOXL1-AS1 in ESCC cells increased the percentage of cells at the G1 phase, accompanied by reducing in S phase in contrast to scramble control, and silencing of LOXL1-AS1 evoked ESCC cell apoptosis. From high throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, we identified that differentially expressed in squamous cell carcinoma 1 (DESC1) was a critical downstream target of LOXL1-AS1. Taken together, we demonstrated the function and mechanism of LOXL1-AS1 in contributing ESCC progression for the first time, and indicated LOXL1-AS1 may be a novel therapeutic biomarker of ESCC.
Keywords: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, long non-coding RNA, LOXL1-AS1, DESC1