Long non-coding RNA HOTAIR is a powerful predictor of metastasis and poor prognosis and is associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colon cancer.
Colon cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the third most fatal malignancy worldwide. HOTAIR, a cancer-associated long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), is a powerful biomarker of metastasis and poor prognosis in a diverse group of cancers. Nevertheless, an understanding of how HOTAIR is involved in colon cancer progression is limited. In the present study, we hypothesized that HOTAIR plays a crucial role in colon cancer development. We evaluated the expression of HOTAIR in 120 colon cancer samples, matched adjacent non-tumor mucosa and 32 lymph node metastasis tissues by real-time PCR. Increased HOTAIR expression was significantly correlated with the depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, organ metastasis, histological differentiation, vascular invasion and advanced tumor stage. Patients with high HOTAIR expression had higher recurrence rates and reduced metastasis-free and overall survival than patients with low HOTAIR expression. Moreover, our findings revealed that HOTAIR had a limited effect on cell proliferation but significantly promoted colon cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro. Depletion of HOTAIR increased the expression of E-cadherin while concomitantly decreasing expression of vimentin and MMP9. Hence, HOTAIR may be another pleiotropic modulator participating in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). These results indicate that HOTAIR may also be a valuable predictor for colon cancer management; furthermore, this lncRNA may be a potential target for cancer prevention and treatment.
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Ze-Hua
ZH
Wu
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Xiao-Liang
XL
Wang
Department of Pathology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Hua-Mei
HM
Tang
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Tao
T
Jiang
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Jian
J
Chen
Department of Pathology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Su
S
Lu
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Guo-Qiang
GQ
Qiu
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Zhi-Hai
ZH
Peng
Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated First People's Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P.R. China.
Dong-Wang
DW
Yan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002465:Cell Movement; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics*; D015854:Up-Regulation
C561566:HOTAIR long untranslated RNA, human; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding