LncRNA DANCR promotes migration and invasion through suppression of lncRNA-LET in gastric cancer cells

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal malignancies. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) DANCR is a newly identified oncogenic lncRNA. However, the functional role and underlying molecular mechanisms of DANCR involved in GC progress remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the biological function and underlying mechanisms of DANCR in GC cell migration and invasion. The results showed that knockdown of DANCR inhibited migration and invasion of GC cells, whereas overexpression of DANCR showed the opposite effect. Further investigation demonstrated that lncRNA-LET was a bona fide target gene of DANCR. In addition, high DANCR and low lncRNA-LET were significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and late clinical stage. DANCR associated with EZH2 and HDAC3 to epigenetically silence lncRNA-LET and then regulated GC migration and invasion. Taken together, these findings indicate an important role for DANCR–lncRNA-LET axis in GC cell migration and invasion, and reveal a novel epigenetic mechanism for lncRNA-LET silencing.