Long Noncoding RNA LINC00941 Promotes Cell Proliferation and Invasion by Interacting with hnRNPK in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a prevalent carcinoma of the head, neck and mouth. Recently studies involving the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that play key regulatory roles in altering gene expression has been reported in the context of promoting tumorigenesis. However, the functions of lncRNAs in the context of oral squamous cell carcinoma have not been extensively described. In this study, we report a never identified before lncRNA, LINC00941, which was highly expressed in OSCC tissues and cells. Expression of LINC00941 promoted cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and metastasis of OSCC cells In Vitro by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling cascade. In silico analyses revealed heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNPK) to be a strong positive regulator of LINC00941 activity. Experimental verification of this association revealed a direct interaction of LINC00941 and hnRNPK to induce cell growth and invasion by activating EMT in OSCC cells. Therefore, our study reports that LINC00941 promotes progression of OSCC by its interaction with hnRNPK, and it may present a promising strategy for diagnosis and treatment of OSCC.

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Authors’ Contributions

Study design: JYW and DFZ; Data Collection: CHW, WC and TZ; Data analysis: JL, CHW, ZXL; Manuscript preparation: JL, ZXL and TZ. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Changzheng Hospital. Informed consents were obtained from all individual participants included in the study. Animal experiments were approved by the Experimental Animal Care Commission of Changzheng Hospital.

Patient Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 81302188).