Long noncoding RNA SPRY4-IT1 promotes malignant development of colorectal cancer by targeting epithelial–mesenchymal transition

Abstract

Dong Cao,1 Qiong Ding,1 Wubin Yu,1 Ming Gao,1 Yilian Wang2 1Department of General Surgery, The People’s Hospital of Putuo, Zhoushan, 2Department of Cardiology, The Second People’s Hospital of Lianyungang, Xinpu, People’s Republic of China Abstract: The clinical significance and biological functions of long noncoding RNA SPRY4 intronic transcript 1 (SPRY4-IT1) in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain largely unclear. Herein, we are the first to report that the SPRY4-IT1 was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues, serum, and cells. Higher SPRY4-IT1 expression was markedly associated with advanced Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) stage in a cohort of 84 CRC patients. Multivariate analyses indicated that SPRY4-IT1 expression could be useful as an independent predictor for overall survival. Further in vitro experiments revealed that knockdown of SPRY4-IT1 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells and induced cell cycle arrestment. Moreover, we confirmed that the expression of epithelial–mesenchymal transition-related genes was modulated through alteration of SPRY4-IT1 expression. These results suggest that SPRY4-IT1, as an oncogenic regulator, may serve as a candidate prognostic marker and potential target for CRC therapies. Keywords: long noncoding RNA, SPRY4-IT1, colorectal cancer, survival

Keywords

• long non-coding RNA
• SPRY4-IT1
• colorectal cancer
• survival