Long noncoding RNA LINC00963 promotes breast cancer progression by functioning as a molecular sponge for microRNA-625 and thereby upregulating HMGA1.

Extensive research has shown that LINC00963 is aberrantly expressed in human cancers, and that dysregulation of LINC00963 is implicated in the initiation and progression of human cancers. The expression and functions of LINC00963 in breast cancer are still unclear. Our aims were to measure the expression of LINC00963 in breast cancer, determine its effects on malignant behaviors of tumor cells, and uncover the molecular events underlying the actions of LINC00963 in breast cancer. Herein, LINC00963 was found to be overexpressed in breast cancer samples, and its overexpression was correlated with lymph node metastasis, TNM stage and differentiation grade. Patients with breast cancer harboring higher LINC00963 expression showed shorter overall survival than did the patients with lower LINC00963 expression. Functional experiments revealed that depletion of LINC00963 inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and facilitated apoptosis in vitro and impaired tumor growth in vivo. Mechanism investigation revealed that LINC00963 can interact with microRNA-625 (miR-625). LINC00963 worked as a competitive endogenous RNA for miR-625 to weaken the suppressive effect of miR-625 on high mobility group AT-hook 1 (HMGA1) in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, miR-625 inhibition and HMGA1 restoration both abrogated the effects of LINC00963 silencing on breast cancer cells. Our findings indicate that the LINC00963-miR-625-HMGA1 pathway plays an important role in the malignancy of breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. Hence, targeting this pathway may be a novel strategy against breast cancer.

MTA1 promotes the invasion and migration of oral squamous carcinoma by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition via the hedgehog signaling pathway.

The metastasis-associated gene 1 (MTA1) has previously been recognized as an oncogene in many tumors, and aberrant MTA1 expression has been related to invasion and migration; however, its role and underlying molecular mechanism in oral squamous carcinoma (OSCC) remain largely unexplored. In this work, we determined the expression of MTA1 in OSCC tissues and cell lines. The effect of MTA1 on metastasis and the role of MTA1 in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of OSCC cells were evaluated by assays both in vitro and in vivo. We also identified the key Hedgehog signaling pathway-related protein involved in the MTA1-induced EMT. We found that MTA1 expression was upregulated and positively related to the metastasis in OSCC tissues and cell lines. MTA1 overexpression promoted OSCC invasion, migration, and induced EMT, while its silencing had the opposite effect both in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, our data further revealed the relevant molecular mechanism, Hedgehog(Hh) signaling pathway contributed to the effect of MTA1 on the aggressive phenotypes of OSCC cells.These findings indicate that MTA1 enhances OSCC cells invasion and migration by inducing EMT via the Hedgehog signaling pathway, which suggests MTA1 may be an effective anti-OSCC therapeutic target.

Plasmid-based Stat3-specific siRNA and GRIM-19 inhibit the growth of thyroid cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

It has been shown that overexpression of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) contribute to the progression and metastasis of various solid tumors and that silencing Stat3 inhibits tumor growth in several types of cancer. Gene associated with retinoid-IFN-induced mortality 19 (GRIM-19), a Stat3-inhibitory protein, was identified as a potential tumor suppressor associated with growth inhibition and cell apoptosis by targeting the transcription factor Stat3 for inhibition. However, little is known about Stat3 and GRIM-19 roles in the tumor growth of thyroid carcinoma cells. In the present study, we developed a dual expression plasmid that co-expressed Stat3-specific siRNA and GRIM-19 (pSi-Stat3-GRIM-19) and transfected it into SW579 cells (thyroid carcinoma cell line) to evaluate its effects on cell proliferation, cell apoptosis, cell migration and cell invasion in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Simultaneous expression of pSi-Stat3-GRIM-19 in SW579 cancer cells was found to significantly suppress the proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, when compared to the controls either Stat3-specific siRNA or GRIM-19 alone. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that a combined strategy of co-expressed Stat3-specific siRNA and GRIM19 synergistically and more effectively suppressed thyroid tumor growth, and have therapeutic potential for the treatment of thyroid cancer.