Long noncoding RNA BX357664 regulates cell proliferation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition via inhibition of TGF-β1/p38/HSP27 signaling in renal cell carcinoma

Antisense long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are reported to play a regulating role in carcinogenesis of various human malignancies. However, the function of lncRNAs and their underlying mechanism in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is still unknown. The aims of this study are to investigate the expression of lncRNA BX357664 in RCC and to explore its function in RCC cell lines. As a result, BX357664 was downregulated in RCC according to previous microarray analysis and qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. After the upregulation of BX357664, reduced migration, invasion, and proliferation capabilities in RCC cells were detected. Furthermore, Western blot analysis was conducted to identify the influence of BX357664 on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, matrix metalloproteinase 2, matrix metalloproteinase 9, and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1)/p38/HSP27 signaling pathway in RCC. Subsequently, upregulating the protein level of TGF-β1 in the presence of BX357664 could rescue the suppression of the malignant behavior mediated by BX357664, indicating that BX357664 attributed its inhibitory role to the suppression of TGF-β1. Therefore, we investigated a novel lncRNA BX357664, which might exhibit its inhibitory role in RCC metastasis and progression by blocking the TGF-β1/p38/HSP27 pathway.