title: BRAF-activated long non-coding RNA contributes to colorectal cancer migration by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
abstract: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are recently identified regulators in tumorigenesis and tumour progression. BRAF-activated lncRNA (BANCR) is overexpressed in melanoma and has a potential functional role in melanoma cell migration. However, little is known concerning the role of BANCR in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). The current study examined BANCR expression in 60 pairs of CRC and matched adjacent normal tissues. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction results showed that BANCR was frequently overexpressed in cancer tissues and this overexpression was found to significantly correlate with lymph node metastasis and tumour stage. The ectopic expression of BANCR contributed to the migration of human CRC Caco-2 cells, whereas knockdown of BANCR inhibited the migration of the HCT116 cellsin vitro. Further investigation into the underlying mechanisms responsible for the migratory effects revealed that BANCR induced the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through an MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase-dependent mechanism as treatment with the MEK inhibitor, U0126 decreased migration and reversed the EMT in the BANCR-overexpressed HCT116 cells. These results revealed the significance of BANCR in the molecular etiology of CRC and implied the potential application of BANCR in the therapeutic treatment of CRC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qinhao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiejing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shuwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Dongsheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Colorectal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210029, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yueming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
keywords: BRAF-activated long non-coding RNA; colorectal cancer; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; extracellular signal-regulated kinase; long non-coding RNA; migration