lncRNA Metastasis-Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 Promotes Proliferation and Invasion of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells via Down-Regulating miR-202 Expression.

Objective: Accumulating evidences indicate that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play key roles in cancer. This study aims to clarify role of the metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and uncover the underlying mechanisms.

Materials And Methods: In this experimental study, and expression in tissues and cell lines were detected using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay. Cell transfection was conducted using Lipofectamine 3000. Cell proliferation was determined with CCK-8 assay. MMP2 and MMP9 expressions were measured with Western blot. Cell invasive ability was evaluated by Transwell assay. Starbase 2.0 tool was used to predict targets of . Dual luciferase reporter assay, RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation assay and RNA pull-down assay were conducted to confirm the potential direct interaction between and .

Results: was overexpressed in NSCLC samples and cell lines. High expression of was related to large tumor size (>3 cm), poor histological grade, advanced cancer and tumor metastasis in NSCLC. In vitro assays exhibited that knockdown of remarkably decreased A549 cell growth and invasion capacity, while overexpression of significantly enhanced NCI-H292 cell proliferation and invasion ability. Next, we verified that could act as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) by sponging in NSCLC and there is a negative correlation between and . Besides, overexpression of inhibited cell proliferation and invasive ability in MALAT1-overexpressed cells.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that lncRNA-MALAT1 gets involved in NSCLC progression by targeting , indicating that may serve as a novel therapeutic target for NSCLC treatment.