LncRNA E2F-Mediated Cell Proliferation Enhancing lncRNA Regulates Cancer Cell Behaviors and Affects Prognosis of Gastric Cancer.

A recent study reported a novel long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) E2F-mediated cell proliferation enhancing lncRNA (EPEL, human chromosome 4, intergenic region) plays an oncogenic role in lung cancer. We aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA EPEL in gastric cancer. Gene expression was analyzed by RT-qPCR and western blot. Survival analysis was performed by comparing survival curves. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were analyzed by CCK-8 and Transwell assays. We found that lncRNA EPEL and Runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) were both upregulated in gastric cancer. EPEL and RUNX2 were positively correlated in tumor. Patients with high expression level of lncRNA EPEL showed poor survival. LncRNA EPEL and RUNX2 overexpression promoted, while lncRNA EPEL siRNA silencing inhibited the migration, proliferation, and invasion of gastric cancers. In addition, RUNX2 overexpression completely rescued the inhibited cancer cell migration, proliferation, and invasion caused by lncRNA EPEL siRNA silencing. Consistently, EPEL overexpression resulted in upregulated RUNX2 expression, while RUNX2 overexpression did not affect lncRNA EPEL expression. Therefore, lncRNA EPEL may regulate cancer cell behaviors and affect prognosis of gastric cancer by interacting with RUNX2.