Overexpression of long non-coding RNA loc285194 suppresses cell proliferation and migration in hepatocellular carcinoma

The expression pattern of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has been reported to be a new player in various diseases, including cancer. Aberrant expression of these genes will affect tumorigenesis through either oncogenic or tumor suppressive pathways. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with the increasing incidence, has become the second deadly cancer in men and the sixth in women in the world. Given the high morbidity and mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma, this study aims at examining whether lncRNA loc285194 is a potential regulator of hepatocellular carcinoma and how can this lncRNA function in the tumor progression. The basic expression levels of lncRNA loc285194 were examined in HCC and adjacent noncancerous tissues and one cell line SMMC-7721 was selected. The overexpression of lncRNA loc285194 was detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in SMMC7721 transducted with pcDNA3.1 carrying loc285194. In addition, compared with control groups, the ability of cell migration and invasion decreased in SMMC-7721 transducted with lncRNA loc285194. After transduction, the cell proliferation and the clone cell amount of SMMC-7721 cell line was obviously suppressed by lncRNA loc285194 overexpression, compared with control. The analysis of cell cycle via flow cytometry revealed that SMMC-7721 cells were arrested at G2/M stage with a great increasing of cell apoptosis. Finally, the result of western blot showed the overexpression of lncRNA loc285194 greatly changed the expression level of proteins controlling cell cycle and cell apoptosis to induce cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis.