100642175

SPRY4-IT1

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), a class of ribonucleic molecules, participate in various cellular processes. They are highly expressed in several types of cancer and their expression was related to pathophysiological characteristics of tumor growth, therefore, they can be considered as a promising diagnostic tool and a convenient prognostic biomarker. SPRY4-IT1, belonging to a group of intron-retained lncRNAs, was reported to affect tumor development of many types of cancer. However, the expression and the role of SPRY4-IT1 in glioma are still unclear. Therefore, in this study, we examined for the first time the expression and role of SPRY4-IT1 in glioma cells. The results of our study showed that SPRY4-IT1 was up-regulated in human glioma tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of SPRY4-IT1 could inhibit glioma cell growth and migration. Moreover, knockdown of SPRY4-IT1 could inhibit epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype in glioma cells. Based on these findings, SPRY4-IT1 may be used as a new target for diagnosis and treatment of glioma.

Long non-coding RNAs play important roles in the regulation of cellular processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, and metastasis. The dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs, such as the SPRY4-IT1 (SPRY4 intronic transcript 1), has been associated with various types of malignancies. However, the functional roles and regulatory mechanism of SPRY4-IT1 in ovarian cancer remain to be elucidated. Here, we quantified the expression level of SPRY4-IT1 in ovarian cancer patients and found its downregulation in ovarian cancer tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissues. Patients with lower SPRY4-IT1 expression were associated with a relatively poor prognosis. In consistency, the expression of SPRY4-IT1 was found to be reduced in four human ovarian cancer cell lines compared to normal ovarian epithelial cells. Next, two ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3 and HO8910 were employed in vitro assays to investigate biological functions of SPRY4-IT1 in ovarian cancer. The cell proliferation was reduced following SPRY4-IT1 overexpression in SKOV3/HO8910 cells based on 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and colony formation assays. The SPRY4-IT1 overexpression also dramatically arrested cell cycle and promoted cell apoptosis. Both wound-healing and transwell-based assays demonstrated that cell migration and invasion were inhibited following SPRY4-IT1 overexpression. Meanwhile, overexpression of SPRY4-IT1 increased E-cadherin and decreased N-cadherin and vimentin protein levels, indicating that SPRY4-IT1 may regulate ovarian cancer cell metastasis through the inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Taken together, our findings suggest that SPRY4-IT1 regulates various cellular processes of ovarian cancer cells and its downregulation may contribute to ovarian cancer progression and metastasis partly via affecting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.