Exosomal long noncoding RNAs MAGI2-AS3 and CCDC144NL-AS1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma development via the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway

Background: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential and critical components of signal and transduction, regulating the intracellular microenvironment. Serum exosomes (SEs) are involved in rearranging the intercel-lular functional lncRNAs, which may also play a role in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The function of lncRNAs at the transcription level in SEs of patients with OSCC is partially understood.Materials and methods: The lncRNA expression profiles were examined derived from SEs from patients with OSCC with lymph node metastasis (OSCC-LNM), OSCC with no LNM (OSCC-NLNM), postoperative metastasis and recurrence OSCC (rOSCC) and healthy controls (HCs). Bioinformatics analysis was used to analyse differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE lncRNAs) and a total of 150 subjects were enrolled for RT-PCR verifications. The cor-relations of four lncRNAs and clinicopathologic factors, biochemical indexes were evaluated. MAGI2-AS3 and CCDC144NL-AS1 were overexpressed or silenced in oral cancer (OC) cells. The proliferation, invasion, and migration were evaluated to investigate the effect of MAGI2-AS3 and CCDC144NL-AS1 on the development of OSCC. The related proteins of PI3K-AKT-mTOR signal pathway were also detected.Results: The expressions of the lncRNAs, namely MAGI2-AS3 and CCDC144NL-AS1, were significantly upregu-lated in rOSCC and OSCC-LNM. MAGI2-AS3 was overexpressed in cancer tissue compared to other control groups. AC109587.1 and AC010978.1 were significantly associated with the clinical stage, and CCDC144NL-AS1 was significantly associated with aging. MAGI2-AS3 and CCDC144NL-AS1 might promote cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in OSCC cells by regulating the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway.Conclusions: our results suggest that MAGI2-AS3 an d CCDC144NL-AS1 may have clinical applications in the treatment of OSCC.

Automated summary

This study found that MAGI2-AS3 and CCDC144NL-AS1 were overexpressed in patients with OSCC and correlated with clinicopathologic factors. These two lncRNAs may promote cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in OSCC cells by regulating the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway, providing new therapeutic strategies for OSCC treatment.