Long noncoding RNA linc-UBC1 promotes tumor invasion and metastasis by regulating EZH2 and repressing E-cadherin in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Purpose: Recent reports have shown that long noncoding (lnc) RNAs are critical during tumorigenesis. This study focused on the influence of linc-UBC1 on the metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the underlying mechanism.

Methods: In 50 ESCC tissues and 5 ESCC cell lines, linc- UBC1 expression was detected by RT-qPCR. Moreover, correlation analysis was conducted between linc-UBC1 expression level and clinicopathological features. Overall survival of these ESCC patients was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method. In addition, wound healing assay and cell invasion assay were utilized to identify whether linc-UBC1 could affect the migration and invasion ability of ESCC cells. Western blotting and luciferase assay were used to explore the potential mechanism.

Results: In ESCC tissues, linc-UBC1 expression level was significantly higher and was remarkably related with clinical features such as TNM stage and nodal metastasis. Meanwhile, overall survival of ESCC patients with high expression of linc-UBC1 was significantly worse than that of patients with low expression. Besides, the migration and invasion ability of ESCC cells was inhibited via knockdown of linc-UBC1. Further study showed that knockdown of linc-UBC1 could suppress the protein level of EZH2 and promote the protein level of E-cadherin.

Conclusions: The results indicate that linc-UBC1 is a novel oncogene in tumorigenesis and could promote the metastasis via EZH2 and E-cadherin, which may offer a possible therapeutic target in ESCC.