ABSTRACT
Objective:This study aimed to clarify the correlation of SPRY4-IT1 expression with the clinicopathological character-istics and prognosis of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), as well as the role of SPRY4-IT1 in promoting ES-CC cell growth. Methods:Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction for SPRY4-IT1 expression was performed on 50 paired can-cerous and adjacent non-cancerous esophageal specimens. Small interfering RNA was used to suppress SPRY4-IT1 expression to fur-ther explore its role in tumor progression. Cell viability was tested in vitro by MTT assay (OD=490 nm), and cell apoptosis and cell cy-cle were investigated by flow cytometry. Results:We found markedly elevated SPRY4-IT1 expression in cancerous tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous tissues (90%, P0.05). Further experiments showed that SPRY4-IT1 expression levels were significantly higher in three ESCC cell lines than in the normal human esophageal epithelial cell line Het-1A. In vitro assays of the ESCC cell line KYSE30 demonstrated that knockdown of SPRY4-IT1 expression by small interfering RNA reduced cell growth, mediated cell cycle arrest at the G0-G1 phase, and promoted cell apoptosis (all P<0.01). Conclusion:SPRY4-IT1 was overexpressed in ESCC tissues and ESCC cell lines and promoted the growth of ESCC cells. The dysregulated expression of long non-coding RNA SPRY4-IT1 may play an important role in the process of ESCC development and may be developed as a useful biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC.