Prognostic and predictive value of long non-coding RNA GAS5 and mircoRNA-221 in colorectal cancer and their effects on colorectal cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion

BACKGROUND: LncRNA and microRNA play an important role in the development of human cancers; they can act as a tumor suppressor gene or an oncogene. LncRNA GAS5, originating from the separation from tumor suppressor gene cDNA subtractive library, is considered as an oncogene in several kinds of cancers. The expression of miR-221 affects tumorigenesis, invasion and metastasis in multiple types of human cancers. However, there's very little information on the role LncRNA GAS5 and miR-221 play in CRC. Therefore, we conducted this study in order to analyze the association of GAS5 and miR-221 with the prognosis of CRC and preliminary study was done on proliferation, metastasis and invasion of CRC cells. In the present study, we demonstrate the predictive value of long non-coding RNA GAS5 (lncRNA GAS5) and mircoRNA-221 (miR-221) in the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) and their effects on CRC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-eight cases with CRC patients and 173 cases of healthy subjects that with no abnormalities, who've been diagnosed through colonoscopy between January 2012 and January 2014 were selected for the study. After the clinicopathological data of the subjects, tissue, plasma and exosomes were collected, lncRNA GAS5 and miR-221 expressions in tissues, plasma and exosomes were measured by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic values of lncRNA GAS5 and miR-221 expression in tissues, plasma and exosomes in patients with CRC were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Lentiviral vector was constructed for the overexpression of lncRNA GAS5, and SW480 cell line was used for the transfection of the experiment and assigned into an empty vector and GAS5 groups. The cell proliferation, migration and invasion were tested using a cell counting kit-8 assay and Transwell assay respectively. RESULTS: The results revealed that LncRNA GAS5 was upregulated while the miR-221 was downregulated in the tissues, plasma and exosomes of patients with CRC. The results of ROC showed that the expressions of both lncRNA GAS5 and miR-221 in the tissues, plasma and exosomes had diagnostic value in CRC. While the LncRNA GAS5 expression in tissues, plasma and exosomes were associated with the tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, Dukes stage, lymph node metastasis (LNM), local recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate, the MiR-221 expression in tissues, plasma and exosomes were associated with tumor size, TNM stage, Dukes stage, LNM, local recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate. LncRNA GAS5 and miR-221 expression in tissues, plasma and exosomes were found to be independent prognostic factors for CRC. Following the overexpression of GAS5, the GAS5 expressions was up-regulated and miR-221 expression was down-regulated; the rate of cell proliferation, migration and invasion were decreased. CONCLUSION: The results obtained from the present study provide evidence on the roles of lncRNA GAS5 and miR-221 in the diagnosis and prognosis of CRC, and lncRNA GAS5 was found to inhibit CRC cell proliferation, migration and invasion by down-regulation of miR-221.