Long noncoding RNA ZFPM2‐AS1 regulates renal cell carcinoma progression via miR‐130a‐3p/ESCO2

Abstract

Abstract Previous studies reported that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) ZFPM2‐AS1 is upregulated in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, the biological role of lncRNA ZFPM2‐AS1 in RCC has not been explored. In this study, we investigated the role of lncRNA ZFPM2‐AS1 in the progression of RCC. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction was used for gene expression analysis, and functional assays including Cell Counting Kit‐8 assay, flow cytometry‐based apoptosis assay and transwell migration assays were performed to examine the malignant phenotypes. The functional interaction between ZFPM2‐AS1 or miR‐130A‐3P and their targets was detected by dual‐luciferase reporter assay. We found that the expressions of ZFPM2‐AS1 and ESCO2 were upregulated in RCC tissues and cells, whereas miR‐130a‐3p was downregulated. The expression level of ZFPM2‐AS1 is significantly associated with advanced TNM, distant metastasis, lymphatic metastasis, and a poor overall survival in RCC patients. Silencing ZFPM2‐AS1 in RCC cells suppressed cell proliferation, invasion, and migration, and induced cell apoptosis. ZFPM2‐AS1 interacted with miR‐130A‐3P and negatively regulated its expression in RCC cells. We further showed that ESCO2 was a downstream target of miR‐130a‐3p. Both miR‐130a‐3p inhibitor and ESCO2 overexpression could rescue the inhibitory effects of ZFPM2‐AS1 knockdown in RCC cells. Together, our study demonstrates that ZFPM2‐AS1 plays an oncogenic role in RCC progression via the miR‐130a‐3p/ESCO2 axis.

Keywords

• ESCO2
• miR‐130a‐3p
• RCC
• ZFPM2‐AS1