Expression levels of the long noncoding RNA steroid receptor activator promote cell proliferation and invasion and predict patient prognosis in human cervical cancer

Abstract

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in developmental processes and diseases and function as critical regulators of a number of different cancer types. Previous research has revealed that lncRNAs affect cervical cancer development. Steroid receptor activator (<i>SRA</i>), an lncRNA, serves as a critical regulator of gynecologic cancer. However, the association between <i>SRA</i> expression and cervical cancer remains unclear. In the present study, the <i>SRA</i> expression levels in patients with cervical cancer were examined and the association between <i>SRA</i> expression and clinicopathological factors was determined. <i>SRA</i> expression was observed in cervical cancer tissues (n=100) and corresponding normal tissues (n=22) using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and its associations with clinical parameters and prognosis were analyzed. <i>SRA</i> expression was significantly greater in tissues from patients with cervical cancer compared with in control patients (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that high <i>SRA</i> expression was an independent prognostic factor of overall survival (hazard ratio=3.714, P=0.031). The present study additionally investigated the biofunctional consequences of <i>SRA</i> overexpression <i>in vitro</i> using Cell Counting kit-8, wound healing migration and Matrigel invasion assays. The results demonstrated that <i>SRA</i> overexpression enhanced cell proliferation, migration and invasion <i>in vitro</i>. Furthermore, <i>SRA</i> overexpression induced the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Therefore, <i>SRA</i> may promote tumor aggressiveness through the upregulation of EMT-associated genes. These results indicated that <i>SRA</i> may represent a novel biomarker for predicting recurrence and prognosis and serve as a promising therapeutic target in cervical cancer.