LncRNA ZFAS1, as a poor prognostic indicator, promotes cell proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in endometrial carcinoma

Per Med. 2021 Jan;18(1):43-53. doi: 10.2217/pme-2020-0014. Epub 2020 Nov 5.

Abstract

Background: Long noncoding RNA Zinc finger nuclear transcription factor, X-box binding 1-type containing 1 antisense RNA 1 (ZFAS1) has been reported to be an oncogene in various tumors. However, the role of ZFAS1 in endometrial carcinoma (EC) are not fully determined. Methods & results: Here, we found ZFAS1 expression was significantly upregulated in EC patients, which was significantly associated with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, histological grade, myometrial invasion and poor prognosis. The loss-of-function assays showed that knockdown of ZFAS1 significantly suppressed the proliferation, G1/S transition, migration and invasion in EC cells. Moreover, knockdown of ZFAS1 obviously downregulated the expression of CDK4, Cyclin D1 and N-cadherin, but upregulated E-cadherin expression. Conclusion: Collectively, these results suggest that ZFAS1 might be used as potential therapeutic targets for EC treatment.

Keywords: EMT; ZFAS1; bioinformatics; endometrial carcinoma; genomics; lncRNA; oncology; prognosis.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Endometrial Neoplasms / mortality
  • Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / genetics*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Prognosis
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*
  • Up-Regulation

Substances

  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • ZFAS1 long non-coding RNA, human