Long noncoding RNA LINC01296 promotes cancer-cell proliferation and metastasis in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

PURPOSE: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the tumorigenesis and progression of human cancer. This research was performed to investigate the role of LINC01296 in clinical characteristics, biological functions and molecular mechanisms of bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, expressions of LINC01296 in cancer tissues and normal tissues were firstly compared using the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis database. Subsequently, a microarray data analysis was performed to compare lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles in four pairs of human bladder cancer samples. Then, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of LINC01296 in bladder cancer tissues. The association between LINC01296 expressions and clinicopathological characteristics of bladder cancer was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier analysis and the Cox proportional-hazard model. The biological functions and molecular mechanisms of LINC01296 in bladder cancer were studied by MTT assay, colony-formation assay, cell cycle analysis, transwell migration assay, wound healing assay, qRT-PCR analysis and Western blot assay. RESULTS: The expression of LINC01296 was significantly higher in most cancer tissues than that in adjacent normal tissues, and was positively correlated with clinical stages of the cancer (P=0.016), lymph node metastasis (P=0.034), and pathologic grades (P=0.012). The increased level of LINC01296 was associated with a poorer prognosis and shorter survival of the patients. Multivariate analysis showed that the LINC01296 expression was an independent predictor of overall survival in bladder cancer. Additionally, LINC01296 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, migration and progression of cell cycle of bladder cancer cells, and was involved in the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggested that LINC01296 promotes progression of bladder cancer, and potentially acts as a biomarker and therapeutic target of bladder cancer.