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@#Objective: To screen the Hub genes associated with the occurrence and development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and to analyze their biological functions by using various bioinformatics analysis tools. Methods: ESCC chip profile GSE100942 from GEO database was used as study subject; GEO2R tool was used to analyze the data and to screen the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and the bioinformatics tools (DAVID, String, Cytoscape) were further used to construct protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and identify the key Hub genes. GO and KEGG were used for the biological function enrichment analysis. In the meanwhile, MiRDB was applied to identify the miRNAs that might regulate Hub genes and to construct Hub gene–miRNA network. Importantly, the expression of DEGs and the patient survival were verified by the GEPIA analysis tool. Results: By analyzing GSE100942 database, a total of 1229 DEGs with difference of 2 times and 223 DEGs with difference of 4 times were screened out. In addition, 20 Hub genes, which were all up-regulated in ESCC tissues, were also identified. The functional enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were mainly enriched in cancer related pathways and involved in cell division and mitotic nuclear division. Among those 20 Hub genes, DLGAP5, BUB1B, TPX2, TTK, CDC20, CCNB2, AURKA and DEPDC1 were identified as 8 key Hub genes that related with ESCC, and involved in many important biological processes, such as cell proliferation, cell cycle and signal pathway. Five Hub genes, CEP55, ECT2, NEK2, DEPDC1 and NUSAP1, were identified to be highly regulated by the miRNA regulatory network. Conclusion: Microarray combined with bioinformatics can effectively analyze the DEGs associated with the occurrence and development of ESCC. The identification of the 20 Hub genes and the 8 key Hub genes can provide theoretical guidance for further research on the molecular mechanism and molecular marker screening of ESCC. ·
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@# 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.