Expression and biological characteristics of long non-coding RNA AL365181.2 in cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression level of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) AL365181.2 in cholangiocarcinoma (CHOL) and its effect on the functional characteristics of CHOL cells. Methods The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used to compare the expression level of lncRNA AL365181.2 between cancerous tissue and paracancerous tissue in CHOL patients, and the association between the expression level of lncRNA AL365181.2 and immune cell infiltration in CHOL tissue was analyzed. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis were performed for lncRNA AL365181.2. EdU assay, wound healing assay, Transwell assay, and xenograft tumor formation experiment were used to investigate the impact of lncRNA AL365181.2 on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumorigenic abilities of CHOL cells. Results The analysis of TCGA data showed that the expression level of lncRNA AL365181.2 in CHOL tissue was significantly higher than that in paracancerous tissue (Z=4.00,P<0.05), and lncRNA AL365181.2 was significantly associated with the infiltration of memory T cells and dendritic cells in CHOL tissue (r=0.28,-0.34,P<0.05). The GSEA analysis showed that lncRNA AL365181.2 was significantly enriched in immune regulation pathways in CHOL cells, while the KEGG enrichment analysis showed significant enrichment of lncRNA AL365181.2 in cytokine receptor interaction pathways and cell surface interactions at the vascular wall. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that after the knockdown of lncRNA AL365181.2, there were significant reductions in the proliferation, migration, invasion, and tumorigenic abilities of CHOL cells (t=4.23-173.34,P<0.05). Conclusion lncRNA AL365181.2 is highly expressed in CHOL tissue compared with paracance-rous tissue, and its expression level is closely associated with the degree of immune cell infiltration. In addition, the expression level of lncRNA AL365181.2 is closely associated with the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities of CHOL cells.

Keywords

• bile duct neoplasms|rna, long noncoding|gene expression|cell proliferation|cell movement|neoplasm invasiveness|carcinogenesis