Down-regulated long non-coding RNA H19 inhibits carcinogenesis of renal cell carcinoma

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to have important regulatory roles in cancer biology. LncRNA H19 has been recently shown to be upregulated and play important roles in several cancers such as breast cancer, bladder cancer, and gastric cancer. However, the role of H19 in clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) remains largely unknown. The expression levels of lncRNA H19 in ccRCC tissues and renal cancer cell lines were evaluated by quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). And its association with overall survival of patients was analyzed by statistical analysis. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) was used to suppress H19 expression in renal cancer cell lines. In vitro assays were performed to further explore its role in tumor progression. The relative level of H19 was significantly higher in ccRCC compared to the adjacent normal renal tissues. And higher expression of H19 was found in renal cancer cells compared to the nonmalignant renal cells HK-2. Furthermore, The ccRCC patients with higher H19 expression had more advanced clinical stage and poorer prognosis than those with lower expression, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with higher H19 expression had a poorer overall survival and H19 expression could be an independent prognostic marker for ccRCC patient. The results of in vitro assays indicated that knockdown of H19 reduced cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Our data suggested that lncRNA H19 might be considered as a potential prognostic indicator and a target for gene therapy of ccRCC.