LncRNA NEAT1 regulates the growth, migration, and invasion of the human esophageal cancer cells via the miR-377/E2F3 axis

Abstract

Esophageal cancer is a highly aggressive and lethal human malignancy. The current study was established with the aim of studying the role of the lncRNA NEAT1 in regulating the growth and progression of esophageal cancer. Esophageal cancer tissues and cell lines showed significantly (P<0.05) upregulated transcript levels of lncRNA NEAT1. The expression of NEAT1 was also upregulated in metastatic tissues compared to nonmetastatic. The elimination of lncRNA NEAT1 led to a significant decrease (P<0.05) decrease in the viabilities of cancer cells due to the induction of apoptosis. Cancer cell migration and invasion were also significantly reduced (P<0.05) upon lncRNA NEAT1. In silico analysis indicated that miR-377 targets lncRNA NEAT1 at the post-transcriptional level, whose overexpression in cancer cells was found to mimic the tumor-suppressive regulatory effects of lncRNA-NEAT1. At the molecular level, the regulatory effects of lncRNA NEAT1 were shown to be modulated by the miR-377/E2F3 signaling axis. The results suggest that the molecular targeting of the lncRNA NEAT1 and miR-377/E2F3 axis could prove beneficial in the management of esophageal cancer.