High expression of the long non-coding RNA HEIRCC promotes Renal Cell Carcinoma metastasis by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Increasing evidence indicates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been associated with cancer development. However, the contributions of lncRNAs to renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remain poorly characterized. Here, we identified a novel lncRNA, termed HEIRCC, which was up-regulated in RCC tissues through lncRNA microarray analysis and subsequent validation in 60 RCC clinical specimens and cell lines. The high expression of HEIRCC is associated closely with the clinical pathology features such as larger tumor size, poor differentiation, lymphatic metastasis. In vitro assays revealed that HEIRCC knockdown could inhibit cell proliferation, trigger late apoptosis, suppress cell migration and invasion. We further demonstrated that depletion of HEIRCC reduce the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) program by regulating expression levels of EMT-associated markers in RCC cells. Thus, HEIRCC might be act as an important regulator of EMT in RCC progression and might be a novel therapeutic target for the advanced RCC therapy.