OncoTargets and Therapy (Dec 2020)
LncRNA MIR205HG Drives Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Progression by Regulating miR-214/SOX4 Axis
Abstract
Hongle Li,1,* Jinlin Jia,2,* Lijun Yang,2 Jie Chu,2 Jinxiu Sheng,2 Chang Wang,2 Weiwei Meng,3 Zimo Jia,4 Huiqing Yin,2 Junhu Wan,2 Fucheng He2 1Department of Molecular Pathology, The Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Blood Transfusion, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Medical Laboratory, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hongle Li; Fucheng He Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common and fatal malignancy, which has posed a great challenge to public health, especially in China. Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs is involved in the occurrence, development, invasion, and metastasis of multiple cancers including ESCC. However, little is known about the function of MIR205HG in ESCC.Methods: We used qRT-PCR to detect the expression level of MIR205HG, miR-214, and SOX4 in human ESCC tissues and cell lines. Loss-of-functional assays were performed to test the impact of MIR205HG on cell proliferation, metastasis, and apoptosis process via CCK-8, transwell, and flow cell cytometry assays. Additionally, the downstream molecular mechanism of MIR205HG in ESCC was explored.Results: Here, we found MIR205HG was substantially up-regulated in ESCC, and there was a positive correlation between MIR205HG expression and tumor size and lymphatic metastasis of ESCC patients. Inhibition of MIR205HG attenuated cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Silencing MIR205HG increased G1 phase cell counts and decreased S phase cell counts, along with increased apoptotic cell populations. Notably, the rescue assays indicated that miR-214 could partly reverse the influence of MIR205HG on ESCC cell migration. We also found that SOX4 was a direct target mRNA of miR-214, and MIR205HG could act as a molecular sponge to regulate SOX4 expression in ESCC.Conclusion: Taken together, our findings demonstrate that MIR205HG promotes ESCC progression by regulating the miR-214/SOX4 axis. MIR205HG may be a novel candidate target for ESCC diagnosis and therapy.Keywords: MIR205HG, lncRNA, ESCC, miR-214, SOX4
