LncRNA BX357664 inhibits cell proliferation and invasion and promotes cell apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cells

Colorectal cancer represents a great burden for patients worldwide. Long noncoding RNA BX357664 is an RNA that was identified by microarray technique in renal cell carcinoma. The function of BX357664 in solid tumors remains largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the expression profile and functional role of BX357664 in human colorectal cancer progression. The transcription levels of BX357664 were initially examined in vivo and in vitro. An overexpression plasmid was constructed in order to examine the effects of BX357664 overexpression on cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. The results demonstrated that BX357664 was significantly downregulated in clinical colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of BX357664 decreased cell proliferation rates and cell colony formation capacities in HCT116 and HT-29 cells. Following BX357664 overexpression, HCT116 and HT-29 cells exhibited reduced migration and invasion capacities. Would closure was also blunted by >50% following overexpression of BX357664 in HCT-116 and HT-29 cells. In addition, the cell cycle regulators Cyclin B1, CDC25C and Cyclin D1 as well as the mesenchymal marker N-cadherin were downregulated, whereas the epithelial marker E-cadherin was upregulated by BX357664 overexpression. Finally, HCT116 and HT-29 cell apoptosis was induced and activities of caspase-3 and caspase-9 increased significantly following BX357664 overexpression. The present data suggested that BX257664 negatively regulated cell proliferation and metastasis and promoted cell apoptosis in colorectal cancer. These observations provided novel evidence that BX357664 might serve as a tumor suppressor and a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of colorectal cancer in the clinic.