Overexpression of long non-coding RNA differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA inhibits the proliferation, migration and invasion and promotes apoptosis of renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the third most common cancer in the urological system; however, the pathogenesis remains unknown. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs are dysregulated in various tumors and serves an important role in tumorigenesis and development. In the present study, expression of lncRNA differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA (DANCR) in 24 paired RCC and adjacent normal tissues was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results revealed that DANCR is downregulated in RCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Subsequent study revealed that overexpression of lncRNA DANCR by transfection of pcDNA3.1-DANCR could suppress 786-O and ACHN (RCC cell) proliferation, migration and invasion, and induce apoptosis compared with cells transfected with the pcDNA3.1 vector. The results revealed that DANCR functions as a tumor suppressor in RCC. In conclusion, the present study, to the best of our knowledge, was the first to reveal DANCR as a tumor suppressor. The results implicate DANCR as a potential biomarker of RCC, and further study will be focused on the clinical significance and signaling pathways of DANCR.