LncRNA GASL1 inhibits growth and promotes expression of apoptosis-associated proteins in prostate carcinoma cells through GLUT-1

Growth-arrest-associated long non-coding (lnc)RNA 1 (GASL1) is as newly identified lncRNA that is associated with liver cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the role of GASL1 in prostate carcinoma (PC). Expression levels of GASL1 in prostate tissues and sera from patients with PC and from healthy subjects were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Receiver operating characteristic and survival curve analyses were performed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic values of GASL1 for patients with PC. A GASL1 expression vector was transfected into PC cells prior to assessment of cell proliferation and expression of B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1) by Cell Counting Kit-8 and western blotting, respectively. The results demonstrated that GASL1 was significantly downregulated in the tissue and serum of patients with PC compared to those of healthy subjects. In addition, GASL1 was used to distinguish patients with PC from healthy controls, and low expression levels of GASL1 were associated with short survival time. Expression levels of GASL1 were significantly associated with tumor size. GASL1 overexpression inhibited PC cell growth. Overexpression of GASL1 upregulated Bcl-2 expression and downregulated GLUT-1 expression. In conclusion, these data suggested that lncRNA GASL1 may inhibit PC cell proliferation by targeting GLUT-1.