Long noncoding RNA OR3A4 promotes cisplatin resistance of non-small cell lung cancer by upregulating CDK1.

OBJECTIVE

Numerous studies have proved that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have an important role in malignant tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). LncRNA olfactory receptor family 3 subfamily A member 4 (OR3A4) was explored to identify how it functions in resistance of NSCLC patients to cisplatin.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) was utilized to detect OR3A4 expression in NSCLC patients. Then, we conducted Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and flow cytometric analysis to detect the function of OR3A4 on the resistance of NSCLC cells to cisplatin. Furthermore, the potential mechanism was explored by mechanism assays.

RESULTS

Compared with OR3A4 expression of paired A549 cells, OR3A4 expression of A549/DDP cells was higher. Moreover, the functional assay showed that after OR3A4 was silenced in A549/DDP cells, cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis was induced, and resistance to cisplatin was reversed. Furthermore, it was found that CDK1 expression was suppressed in A549/DDP cells by knockdown of OR3A4.

CONCLUSIONS

The present work suggests that OR3A4 participates in regulating cell cycle, cell apoptosis of NSCLC cells and the resistance to cisplatin via upregulating CDK1, indicating that OR3A4 could be identified as a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC patients.