Open Access
ARTICLE
H19 Facilitates Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma Migration and Invasion via Sponging miR-let-7
Ni Kou*1,
Sha Liu*1,
Xiaojie Li*, Wuwei Li*, Weijian Zhong*, Lin Gui*, Songling Chai*, Xiang Ren*,
Risu Na*, Tao Zeng†, Huiying Liu*
* College of Stomatology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, P.R. China
† Department of Stomatology, Dalian Stomatological Hospital, Dalian, Liaoning, P.R. China
Oncology Research 2019, 27(2), 173-182. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504018X15202945197589
Abstract
The long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) H19 has been described to participate in the metastasis of various tumors.
Nevertheless, whether H19 promotes or impedes tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) cell migration and
invasion remains controversial. Here we found that the expression of H19 was elevated in TSCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Moreover, we demonstrated that the expression of H19 was higher in
metastasized tumors compared with unmetastasized tumors. Consistently, TSCC cells express higher levels of
H19 than human squamous cells. Subsequently, depletion of H19 impaired the migration and invasion abilities of TSCC cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that H19 functions as a competing endogenous RNA
(ceRNA) to sponge miRNA let-7a, leading to an increase in a let-7a target, the key regulator of tumor metastasis HMGA2, which is enriched in TSCC tissues and cell lines. Intriguingly, inhibition of let-7a significantly
rescued the short hairpin H19 (shH19)-induced decrease in TSCC migration and invasion. These findings
revealed that the H19/let-7a/HMGA2/EMT axis plays a critical role in the regulation of TSCC migration and
invasion, which may provide a new therapeutic target for TSCC.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Kou, N., Liu,
. S., Li,
. X., Li, W., Zhong, W. et al. (2019). H19 Facilitates Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma Migration and Invasion via Sponging miR-let-7.
Oncology Research, 27(2), 173–182. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504018X15202945197589