Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2019; 25(38): 5789-5799
Published online Oct 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i38.5789
lncRNA-SNHG15 accelerates the development of hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting miR-490-3p/ histone deacetylase 2 axis
Wei Dai, Jia-Liang Dai, Mao-Hua Tang, Mu-Shi Ye, Shuo Fang
Wei Dai, Jia-Liang Dai, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, Guangdong Province, China
Mao-Hua Tang, Department of Infectious Disease, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524003, Guangdong Province, China
Mu-Shi Ye, Department of Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524001, Guangdong Province, China
Shuo Fang, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, Guangdong Province, China
Shuo Fang, Li KaShing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Author contributions: Dai W and Dai JL performed the majority of experiments and analyzed the data; Ye MS performed the molecular investigations; Tang MH designed and coordinated the research; Fang S wrote the paper.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University Ethics Committee.
Informed consent statement: All patients in our study provided informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shuo Fang, PhD, Attending Doctor, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 628, Zhenyuan Road, Xinhu Street, Guangming New District, Shenzhen 518107, Guangdong Province, China. shuofangzhongshan@163.com
Telephone: +86-852-65923702 Fax: +86-852-65923702
Received: July 29, 2019
Peer-review started: July 29, 2019
First decision: August 17, 2019
Revised: August 30, 2019
Accepted: September 13, 2019
Article in press: September 13, 2019
Published online: October 14, 2019
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Among all cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) related mortality is one of the highest and has seen a dramatic increase in annual global incidence rate. Many recent studies have demonstrated how transcriptional regulation affects HCC. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) play a role in the initiation and progression of HCC, such as maintenance of cell growth, evasion of apoptosis, promotion of invasion and metastasis, stemness maintenance and epithelial to mesenchymal transition.

Research motivation

To discover biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

Research objectives

To investigate the underlying mechanisms of lncRNA-SNHG15 in HCC.

Research methods

lncRNA-SNHG15 expression was observed by qRT-PCR assay in HCC tissue and cell lines. Clinicopathological characteristics were collected, arranged and combined with expression analysis of HCC to evaluate the functions of lncRNA-SNHG15. Moreover, cell function assays and western blot were performed to explore the functions of lncRNA-SNHG15 and targets regulated by lncRNA-SNHG15 in HCC cell lines.

Research results

We found that lncRNA-SNHG15 was increased in HCC tissues and cell lines and exhibited a significantly positive relationship with tumor sizes, TNM stage and Edmondson-Steiner grading. Cell experiments showed SNHG15 increased the proliferation and invasion capacity of HCC cell lines, and miR-490-3p/histone deacetylase 2 may be the target regulated by lncRNA-SNHG15 in HCC cells.

Research conclusions

Our study demonstrated that lncRNA-SNHG15 can significantly promote cell growth, migration and invasion of HCC. Furthermore, it can work through miR-490-3p/histone deacetylase 2. Therefore, our study provides some molecular mechanism and three new biomarkers for HCC.

Research perspectives

In the future, research may reveal the important role of lncRNA-SNHG15 that enhances the sensitivity of HCC detection and further develop its application in anti-cancer treatments.