LncRNA SNHG12 promotes the development and progression of colon cancer by regulating the miR-15a/PDK4 axis.

Colon cancer is a common gastrointestinal tumor with complex pathological process. Recently, the relationship between long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and colon cancer has attracted more and more attention, whereas the underlying molecular mechanism is still poorly understood. Here, we found that the expression of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) was markedly upregulated in colon cancer samples compared to normal adjacent tissues. Notably, patients with low expression of SNHG12 displayed higher survival rate than those with high expression of SNHG12. Further researches revealed that knockdown of SNHG12 suppressed the malignant phenotype of colon cancer cells. Interestingly, SNHG12 could function as a sponge to specifically bind to microRNA-15a (miR-15a). Moreover, we confirmed that pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) is a direct target gene of miR-15a. Finally, inhibiting miR-15a expression largely abolished the effect of SNHG12 silencing on colon cancer cells. In conclusion, our data uncovered the critical role of SNHG12 in the development and progression of colon cancer through regulating the miR-15a/PDK4 axis, therefore providing a promising target for treating this disease.