MEG3 inhibits cell proliferation, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Y.-Q. Zhao, X.-B. Liu, H. Xu, S. Liu, J.-M. Wang

Department of Otolaryngology, Daqing Oil Field General Hospital, Daqing, China. xuhuixuhui11@126.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is associated with human carcinogenesis. The aim of the study is to explore the biological functions of MEG3 expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: QRT-PCR analysis was performed to assess the expression of MEG3 in 35 pairs of LSCC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell invasion capacities were determined by CCK8 assay and transwell assay in Hep-2 cell. QRT-PCR and Western blot analysis were applied to detect the relative expression of Twist1, E-cadherin and Vimentin in Hep-2 cells.

RESULTS: In the study, our results showed that MEG3 expression was significantly lower in tumor tissues compared with that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Lower MEG3 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and advanced TNM stage of patients. Knockdown of MEG3 significantly promotes cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) process by upregulating Twist1 and Vimentin expression and reducing E-cadherin expression in Hep-2 cell. Conversely, upregulation of MEG3 had the inhibiting effects in Hep-2 cell.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that MEG3 may serve as a novel potentially therapeutic target for LSCC treatment.

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