Department of Pathology, People's Hospital of Xintai City, Xintai City, Shandong Province 271200, China
Biosci Rep. 2019 Jan 8;39(1). doi: 10.1042/BSR20180906. Print 2019 Jan 31.
Accumulating studies discloses that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) serve important roles in human tumorigenesis, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The purpose of the present study was to determine the role of lncRNA FEZF1-AS1 in NPC.
The expression levels of FEZF1-AS1 in NPC tissues and cell lines were detected by RT-qPCR analysis. MTT assay was performed to investigate the proliferation of NPC cells , whereas the migration and invasion of NPC cells were determined by wound healing assay and transwell assay. A nude mouse tumor model was established to study the role of FEZF1-AS1 in NPC tumorigenesis The expression levels of proteins were detected by Western blot assay.
The results showed that FEZF1-AS1 expression was increased in the NPC tissues and cell lines, and the higher expression of FEZF1-AS1 was closely associated with poor prognosis of NPC patients. We further observed that knockdown of FEZF1-AS1 inhibited the proliferation of NPC cells and suppressed NPC xenograft growth through inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest. The migratory and invasive abilities of NPC cells were also reduced upon FEZF1-AS1 knockdown. Moreover, we demonstrated that inhibition of FEZF1-AS1 remarkably suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and reduced β-catenin accumulation in nucleus in NPC cells.
Collectively, we showed that FEZF1-AS1 might be a key regulator of cell cycle, EMT and Wnt/β-catenin signaling in NPC cells, which may be helpful for understanding of pathogenesis of NPC.
越来越多的研究表明，长非编码 RNA（lncRNA）在人类肿瘤发生中发挥重要作用，包括鼻咽癌（NPC）。本研究旨在探讨 lncRNA FEZF1-AS1 在 NPC 中的作用。
采用 RT-qPCR 分析检测 NPC 组织和细胞系中 FEZF1-AS1 的表达水平。采用 MTT 法检测 NPC 细胞的增殖，采用划痕愈合实验和 Transwell 实验检测 NPC 细胞的迁移和侵袭。建立裸鼠肿瘤模型研究 FEZF1-AS1 在 NPC 肿瘤发生中的作用。采用 Western blot 检测蛋白表达水平。
结果表明，FEZF1-AS1 在 NPC 组织和细胞系中表达增加，且 FEZF1-AS1 表达越高，NPC 患者的预后越差。进一步观察发现，FEZF1-AS1 敲低抑制 NPC 细胞的增殖，并通过诱导 G2/M 细胞周期阻滞抑制 NPC 异种移植瘤的生长。FEZF1-AS1 敲低还降低了 NPC 细胞的迁移和侵袭能力。此外，我们证明，抑制 FEZF1-AS1 可显著抑制 NPC 细胞中的上皮间质转化（EMT），并减少核内 β-连环蛋白的积累。
综上所述，我们表明 FEZF1-AS1 可能是 NPC 细胞中细胞周期、EMT 和 Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路的关键调节因子，这可能有助于理解 NPC 的发病机制。
