CASC15 promotes epithelial to mesenchymal transition and facilitates malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by increasing TWIST1 gene expression via miR-33a-5p sponging.

CASC15 promotes epithelial to mesenchymal transition and facilitates malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by increasing TWIST1 gene expression via miR-33a-5p sponging. Eur J Pharmacol. 2019 Aug 08;:172589 Authors: Li Y, Chen G, Yan Y, Fan Q Abstract Long noncoding RNA cancer susceptibility candidate 15 (CASC15) facilitates progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, but the molecular mechanisms remain unknown. CASC15 co-expressing genes were explored in the Cancer Genome Atlas Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma dataset. Putative co-expressing genes were analyzed by Gene Ontology and biological pathway enrichment analysis. CASC15 overexpression or knockdown and TWIST1 overexpression or knockdown in HCC cells was achieved by lentiviral transduction or plasmid transfection. Interaction between CASC15 and microRNA-33a-5p (miR-33a-5p) was verified by argonaute 2-RNA Immunoprecipitation (AGO2-RIP) and luciferase reporter assays. HCC cell malignancy was determined by cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion assays. Tumorigenicity was evaluated by xenograft assay. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HCC cells was assessed by Western blot. TWIST1, sex-determining region Y-related high-mobility group box 4 (Sox4) and Versican were found as putative CASC15 co-expressing genes. CASC15 positively regulated TWIST1 gene expression as well as protein level of Sox4 and Versican in HCC cells. Positive correlation in...
Source: European Journal of Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Eur J Pharmacol Source Type: research