High expression of lncRNA GACAT3 inhibits invasion and metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer to enhance the effect of radiotherapy.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) GACAT3 in invasion and metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its effect on radiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of GACAT3 and TIMP2 in cells and tissues of NSCLC were detected by quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The influence of GACAT3 on cell proliferation and the capacity of colony formation were estimated by MTT test and colony forming experiment respectively. Luciferase reporting assay was used to confirm the correlation between GACAT3 and TIMP2. In addition, we observed the influence of GACAT3 on radiosensitivity of NSCLC cells. RESULTS: Using lncRNA array analysis, we found that GACAT3 expression increased significantly. Further studies showed that overexpression of ectopic GACAT3 in A549 cells promoted cell proliferation and migration, and enhanced the sensitivity of lung cancer cells to radiotherapy. TIMP2, confirmed a direct target of GACAT3 by bioinformatics analysis and our experiments, may be involved in the GACAT3-induced upregulation of MMP10. CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA GACAT3 may be a potential biomarker for the evaluation of curative effect and prognosis of lung cancer.