ABSTRACT
@# Objective: To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA NUP50-AS1 (lncRNA NUP50-AS1) in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) tissues and cell lines, and to explore its effect on proliferation, migration and invasion of human esophageal cancer Eca109 cells. Methods: 49 pairs of ESCC tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues obtained from the Biological Specimen Base of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University during Jan. 2015 to Jan. 2016 were used in this study. qRT-PCR method was applied to detect the expression of NUP50-AS1 in collected tissues samples and five esophageal cancer cell lines (TE1, TE13, Eca109, Kyse150 and Kyse170). ShRNAs were transiently transfected into Eca109 cells to interfere the expression of NUP50AS1 gene, and finally, sh2-NUP50-AS1 was used for the following experiments. The effect of NUP50-AS1 gene knockdown on the proliferation of Eca109 cells was detected by MTS and colony formation assay; the effect of NUP50-AS1 gene knockdown on the migration of Eca109 cells was detected by scratch test, and the effect on cell invasion was detected by Transwell assay. Results: The expression of NUP50-AS1 in ESCC was correlated with the lymphnode metastasis and TNM stage (all P<0.01). The expression of NUP50AS1 in ESCC tissues was significantly higher than that in corresponding normal tissues (2.003±0.870 vs 1.000±0.000, P<0.05). The expression of NUP50-AS1 in five esophageal cancer cell lines was significantly up-regulated (P<0.05), and it had the highest expression in Eca109 cell line. After transfection, sh2-NUP50-AS1 had the highest transfection efficiency, and knocking down NUP50-AS1 gene significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of the Eca109 cells. Conclusion: The expression of lncRNA NUP50AS1 in ESCC tissues was significantly higher than that in the para-cancerous tissues, and correlated with the TNM stage and lymphnode metastasis. The down-regulation of NUP50-AS1 inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of esophageal cancer cells. The high expression of NUP50-AS1 gene may be closely related to the occurrence and development of ESCC.