LINC00667 Promotes Progression of Esophageal Cancer Cells by Regulating miR-200b-3p/SLC2A3 Axis

Background: Recently, more and more evidence indicated that the long non-coding RNA was strictly related to the occurrence and progression of human cancers, including esophageal Cancer (EC). We observed that LINC00667 was increased in EC, but the function of LINC00667 was unclear. Therefore, the function and potential molecular mechanism of LINC00667 in the progression of EC need to be further studied.

Methods: Quantitative Real-Time PCR was used to investigate the levels of LINC00667, miR-200b-3p, and SLC2A3. The levels of protein involved in cell cycle, cell Apoptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, as well as SLC2A3 were quantitatived by western blot. The role of LINC00667 in the proliferative, migratory and invasive capabilities of EC cells were measured by cell counting kit-8 assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry assay, wound healing assay and transwell assay, respectively. Interaction between LINC00667 and miR-200b-3p or miR-200b-3p and SLC2A3 were confirmed using a luciferase reporter assay.

Results: In this work, we found that LINC00667 expression was up-regulated in EC cell lines, and LINC00667 knockdown inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in EC cells. In addition, it showed that LINC00667 functioned as competitive endogenous RNA for miR-200b-3p by the DIANA-LncBase database. Moreover, we used targetscan online software to predict SLC2A3 as a target gene of miR-200b-3p. Subsequently, rescue experiments confirmed that knocking out SLC2A3 could reverse the inhibitory effect of miR-200b-3p on EC cells transfected with sh-LINC00667.

Conclusion: Herein, we revealed the novel mechanism of LINC00667 on regulating metastasis-related gene by Sponge regulatory axis during EC metastasis. Our results demonstrated that LINC00667 plays a critical role in metastatic EC by mediating Sponge regulatory axis miR-200b-3p/SLC2A3. To explore function of LINC00667/miR-200b-3p/SLC2A3 axis may provide an informative biomarker of malignancy and a highly selective anti-EC therapeutic target.