High expression of lncRNA PVT1 promotes invasion by inducing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in esophageal cancer

The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) has been identified as an oncogene in numerous diseases, and aberrant lncRNA PVT1 expression has been associated with the development of cancer. However, the underlying mechanism by which lncRNA PVT1 affects cell invasion in esophageal cancer has been not demonstrated. In the current study, the expression of lncRNA PVT1 was found to be increased in esophageal cancer specimens (n=77) by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and was correlated with tumor stage (P=0.009) and metastasis (P<0.001). In vitro, by using transwell assay, upregulation of lncRNA PVT1 promoted the invasion of TE-1 esophageal cancer cells; while downregulation of lncRNA PVT1 inhibited Eca-109 cell invasion. In addition, western blot analysis indicated that upregulation of lncRNA PVT1 may induce epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by regulating the expression levels of EMT markers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin and vimentin). In conclusion, lncRNA PVT1 is able to regulate the invasion of esophageal cancer cells by inducing EMT.