Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Apr 15, 2020; 12(4): 394-404
Published online Apr 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i4.394
LINC00511 promotes gastric cancer cell growth by acting as a ceRNA
Chong-Bing Sun, Hong-Yi Wang, Xiao-Qing Han, Yong-Ning Liu, Meng-Chun Wang, Hong-Xia Zhang, You-Feng Gu, Xiao-Gang Leng
Chong-Bing Sun, Yong-Ning Liu, Meng-Chun Wang, Department of General Surgery, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang 261041, Shandong Province, China
Hong-Yi Wang, Hong-Xia Zhang, You-Feng Gu, Xiao-Gang Leng, Department of Anorectal Surgery, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang 261041, Shandong Province, China
Xiao-Qing Han, Department of Spine Surgery, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang 261041, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Sun CB, Wang HY, Han XQ, Liu YQ, and Wang MC analyzed and interpreted data and wrote the article; Zhang HX, Gu YF and Leng XG drafted the work and collected the data.
Institutional review board statement: Approved by the hospital ethics committee of Weifang People's Hospital.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Gang Leng, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Anorectal Surgery, Weifang People's Hospital, No. 151 Guangwen Street, Kuiwen District, Weifang 261041, Shandong Province, China. docxiaogang@163.com
Received: December 21, 2019
Peer-review started: December 21, 2019
First decision: January 19, 2020
Revised: February 4, 2020
Accepted: March 22, 2020
Article in press: March 22, 2020
Published online: April 15, 2020
Processing time: 116 Days and 4.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies, with a high incidence and poor prognosis worldwide. Recently, accumulating evidence has illustrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play pivotal roles in many cancers. It has been reported that LINC00511 contributes to tumorigenesis in various diseases. However, the role of LINC00511 in GC cell growth remains mostly unknown.

AIM

To determine whether the lncRNA LINC00511 exerted its carcinogenic function in GC via the miR-124-3p/PDK4 axis.

METHODS

Cell culture and transfection, RNA extraction and quantitative real-time PCR, CCK-8 assay, Colony formation assay, Luciferase reporter assay, RIP assay, RNA pull-down assay, and Western blot analysis were used to show expression and mechanisms of LINC00511 in GC progression and apoptosis. Rescue assays were performed to verify the relationships among LINC00511, miR-124-3p and PDK4 further.

RESULTS

The expression of LINC00511 was remarkably upregulated in GC cells compared to that in corresponding normal cell lines. Compared to the controls, cell proliferation was inhibited, and cell apoptosis was increased upon LINC00511 knockdown, demonstrating that LINC00511 influenced GC cell growth. An exploration of the molecular mechanism revealed that LINC00511 functioned as a molecular sponge of miR-124-3p and that PDK4 was a downstream target of miR-124-3p in GC. Rescue assays showed that the overexpression of PDK4 could partly restore the inhibitory function of si-LINC00511 in GC.

CONCLUSION

These data demonstrate that LINC00511 promotes gastric cancer cell growth by acting as a ceRNA to regulate the miR-124-3p/PDK4 axis, which may be a promising therapeutic target for GC.

Keywords: LINC00511; miR-124-3p; PDK4; Long noncoding RNAs; Gastric cancer

Core tip: In this study, we aimed to determine whether the long noncoding RNAs LINC00511 exerted its carcinogenic function in gastric cancer (GC) via the miR-124-3p/PDK4 axis. First, we investigated the expression level of LINC00511 in GC cell lines, and we then examined the biological function of LINC00511 with functional assays. Next, we predicted and confirmed the interaction between LINC00511 and miR-124-3p. Furthermore, we further found that PDK4 was a downstream target of miR-124-3p. Finally, we concluded that LINC00511 plays an oncogenic role in GC by sponging miR-124-3p and targeting PDK4, indicating that LINC00511 may be a new molecular biomarker for GC.