Objective: To investigate the effect of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOST2 on proliferation, migration and invasion in pancreatic cancer cells and the mechanism.
Methods: The lncRNA HOST2 expressions in normal pancreatic epithelial cell line HPDE6-C7 and four different pancreatic cancer cell lines (Panc-1, AsPC-1, BxPC-3 and HPAC) were determined by qRT-PCR. Panc-1 cells were transfected with siRNA-HOST2 (si-HOST2 group) or scrambled sequence (negative control group), and then, the proliferative, migration and invasion abilities were analyzed by MTT assay, wound scratch assay and Transwell assay, and the expressions of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) associated proteins vimentin, Snail and Twist1 were measured by Western blot, respectively. The untransfected Panc-1 cells were used as blank control group.
Results: The expressions of lncRNA HOST2 were significantly increased in all the studied pancreatic cancer cell lines compared with HPDE6-C7 cells (all P<0.05). Compared with blank control group, the proliferative, migration and invasion abilities were all significantly reduced, and the expression levels of vimentin, Snail and Twist1 were all significantly decreased in si-HOST2 group (all P<0.05), while all above parameters showed no significant changes in negative control group (all P>0.05).
Conclusion: lncRNA HOST2 expression is up-regulated in pancreatic cancer cells, which is closely related to the proliferation, migration and invasion of pancreatic cancer, and its mechanism may be responsible for regulating the expressions of EMT-associated proteins.