LncRNA SNHG14 promotes the development of cervical cancer and predicts poor prognosis

Y.-Y. Zhang, M. Li, Y.-D. Xu, J. Shang

Physical Examination Center, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, China. yssj0382@163.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the role of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) small nucleolar RNA host gene 14 (SNHG14) in cervical cancer, and to further understand the possible underlying mechanism.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect the expression of SNHG14 in cervical cancer. The relationship between SNHG14 expression with clinic-pathological features and prognosis of patients was analyzed. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-Ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EdU) and flow cytometry were used to evaluate the proliferation and apoptosis of cells. At the same time, the changes in the expression of apoptosis-related proteins after SNHG14 knockdown were detected.
RESULTS: Compared with normal cervical tissues, the expression of SNHG14 was significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues. The prognosis of patients with higher expression of SNHG14 was worse than those with a lower level. The relationship between the expression of SNHG14 and clinicopathological features of patients with cervical cancer was further analyzed. The results demonstrated that a higher expression level of SNHG14 indicated later tumor stage and higher incidence of lymph node metastasis. Compared with normal cervical epithelial cell line End1/E6E7, the level of SNHG14 in cervical cancer cell lines (including SW756, SiHa and HeLa) was markedly up-regulated. Among them, SW756 and SiHa cells exhibited the highest level of SNHG14. After knocking down SNHG14, the viability and proliferation ability of SW756 and SiHa cells were remarkably decreased, while cell apoptosis was increased. Subsequently, we investigated the possible underlying mechanism. The results found that the knockdown of SNHG14 enhanced the activation of caspases-3, and increased the protein expression of Bax, JAK2 and STAT3, whereas decreased the expression of Bal-2 and Bid.
CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA SNHG14 was highly expressed in cervical tumor tissues or cells, which could promote the progression of cervical cancer. Furthermore, SNHG14 might be associated with the activation of the JAK-STAT pathway.

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