Down-regulation of long non-coding RNA antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus suppresses OVCAR-3 cells proliferation and induction of apoptosis by Wnt/β-catenin.

OBJECTIVES

Ovarian cancer is a lethal gynecological malignancy. Long non-coding RNA antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (lncRNA ANRIL) was reported to have a critical role in cancer advancement. The ANRIL-mediated oncogenic underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully understood in ovarian cancer. We aimed to study ANRIL silencing effects on the proliferation and apoptosis of OVCAR-3 cells.

METHODS

The ANRIL was Knockdown by transfection of OVCAR-3 cells with si-RNA against ANRIL. MTT assay and cell death ELISA kit were used to evaluate cellular proliferation and apoptosis. The expression levels of ANRIL, pro-and anti-apoptotic genes were assessed using q-RT-PCR. Western blotting was used to assess Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway.

KEY FINDINGS

ANRIL down-regulating in OVCAR-3 cell lines resulted in significant inhibition of cellular proliferation, apoptosis induction, as well as suppression of cellular invasion. Besides, knockdown of ANRIL led to pro-apoptotic genes up-regulation, Bad and Bax and anti-apoptotic genes down-regulation, Bid and Bcl-2. More importantly, we observed that ANRIL inhibition suppressed the vital components expression of the Wnt/β-catenin cascade.

CONCLUSION

Our findings showed that down-regulation of lncRNA ANRIL resulted in the effective suppression of OVCAR-3 cell proliferation and invasion and induction of apoptosis by preventing Wnt/β-catenin signal transduction.