STAT3-induced lncRNA SNHG17 exerts oncogenic effects on ovarian cancer through regulating CDK6

Abstract Emerging studies indicate that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in ovarian cancer (OC). By analyzing high-throughput data, we found that SNHG17 was highly expressed in multiple OC cohorts. However, its functions in OC were not explored. In this study, lncRNA expression in OC was analyzed by a series of microarray data. The functions of SNHG17 were investigated by various in vitro and in vivo assays. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), RNA pull-down, chromatin immunoprecipitation assay (ChIP), RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and luciferase reporter assays were used to reveal the potential mechanisms involved in the effects of SNHG17. We found that SNHG17 was overexpressed in OC and that the oncogenic transcription factor STAT3 was involved in promoting its expression. In addition, high SNHG17 expression was associated with a poor prognosis in OC. Functional analysis revealed that SNHG17 could promote OC cell growth. Mechanistically, SNHG17 was found to be located predominantly in the cytoplasm. It could regulate expression of CDK6, an important cell cycle regulator, by acting as a molecular sponge for miR-214-3p. In summary, our study suggested that SNHG17 acted as an oncogene in OC, which might serve as a novel target for OC diagnosis and therapy.