Aberrant methylation-mediated downregulation of lncRNA promotes cell proliferation in cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in tumorigenesis. The lncRNA has been shown to be involved in the growth of several tumors; however, its role in cervical cancer has not been elucidated. This study aimed to explore the expression, function, and underlying mechanism of action of in cervical cancer. Expression of was examined in cervical cancer and adjacent normal cervical tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and by bioinformatic analysis of data from the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. The function of was investigated by overexpressing or silencing in HeLa and SiHa cervical cancer cells followed by in vitro and in vivo analyses. Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite genomic sequencing (BGS) were used to detect promoter methylation status in cervical cancer cells.

RESULTS

expression was lower in cervical cancer compared with normal cervical tissues, and the level was significantly correlated with the patient age and tumor size. overexpression inhibited the proliferation and cell cycle progression of HeLa cells in vitro and/or in vivo, whereas silencing had the opposite effects. expression was elevated after treatment of cervical cancer cells with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5'-azacytidine (5'-Aza), and this was mediated, at least in part, via reduced CpG methylation at the promoter.

CONCLUSION

expression is downregulated in cervical cancer, potentially through increased promoter methylation, and the upregulation of expression inhibited tumor growth. These data suggest that could be a diagnostic marker and potential therapeutic target for cervical cancer.