Affiliations: [a] Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China | [b] Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Chun-Shun Jin, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Second Hospital, Jilin University, NO.218 Ziqiang Street, Changchun, Jilin 130041, China. Tel.: +86 0431 88796636; E-mail:JIDAJCS@hotmail.com
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and
neck cancer with an incidence of 10-30 cases per 100,000 in southern China.
Although primary treatment includes radiation therapy, prognosis is still
unsatisfactory. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we examined the role of HNF1A-AS in NPC
progression in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Relative levels of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA),
HNF1A-AS, were evaluated in tumor tissues from 20 patients with NPC as well
as from cultured NPC cell lines. Lentivirus-mediated HNF1A-AS knockdown was
conducted in NPC cell lines, CNE-2 and SUNE-1. Cell migration and invasion
abilities were estimated in vitro by colony-formation, wound-healing, and transwell
assays. Cell cycle analysis was used to further examine the role of HNF1A-AS
in cell proliferation. The tumor size of 24 male mice with or without
HNF1A-AS knockdown was monitored once a week. The underlying mechanism of
HNF1A-AS-mediated cell proliferation was studied by western blot analysis. RESULTS: Lentivirus-mediated HNF1A-AS knockdown suppressed cell
proliferation and migration abilities. In mice injected with CNE-2 and
SUNE-1, depletion of HNF1A-AS caused inhibition of tumor growth, whereas
cell cycle analysis showed that HNF1A-AS-knockdown resulted in cell
accumulation in the G0/G1 phase. Moreover, HNF1A-AS was found to be
associated with epithelial to mesenchymal transition. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our results suggest that LncRNA, HNF1A-AS
potentially regulates NPC tumorigenesis. This could help in development of
new strategies for NPC diagnosis and treatment.
Keywords: Long non-coding RNA, HNF1A-AS, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, proliferation, metastasis, RNAi
