Altered expression of lncRNA NCK1-AS1 distinguished patients with prostate cancer from those with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Long non-coding (lnc)RNA NCK1 antisense RNA 1 (NCK1-AS1) has been characterized as an oncogene in cervical cancer, while its role in prostate cancer (PC) remains unknown. It was revealed in the present study that plasma NCK1-AS1 was upregulated in patients with PC when compared with patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and healthy controls. Upregulation of NCK1-AS1 distinguished patients with PC from patients with BPH and healthy controls. Overexpression of NCK1-AS1 led to significantly upregulated transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, while TGF-β1 overexpression failed to significantly affect NCK1-AS1 in PC cells. NCK1-AS1 overexpression led to promoted migration and invasion. TGF-β inhibitor played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of NCK1-AS1 overexpression. Therefore, NCK1-AS1 may upregulate TGF-β1 to promote PC.