The long noncoding RNA LINC00312 induces lung adenocarcinoma migration and vasculogenic mimicry through directly binding YBX1

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) gives rise to tumor neovascularization that is critical for tumor growth and metastasis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in diverse and fundamental biological processes. LINC00312 is associated with lung adenocarcinoma. In this study, we found that LINC00312 induced migration, invasion and VM of lung cancer cells by direct binding to the transcription factor Y-Box Binding Protein 1 (YBX1). Moreover, we demonstrated that YBX1 is associated with different fragments within 0–2410 nt 5’region of LINC00312. In addition, LINC00312 is associated with VM in 124 lung adenocarcinoma clinical specimens. The results suggest that LINC00312 is a promising therapeutic and diagnostic target for lung adenocarcinoma. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12943-018-0920-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.