Overexpression long non-coding RNA LINC00673 is associated with poor prognosis and promotes invasion and metastasis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

// Jianjun Yu 1, * , Yan Liu 1, 2, * , Zhaojian Gong 2, 3, 4 , Shanshan Zhang 3 , Can Guo 2 , Xiayu Li 2, 5 , Yanyan Tang 2 , Liting Yang 2 , Yi He 1, 2 , Fang Wei 2 , Yumin Wang 2, 3 , Qianjin Liao 1, 2 , Wenling Zhang 2 , Xiaoling Li 1, 2, 3 , Yong Li 2, 6 , Guiyuan Li 1, 2, 3 , Wei Xiong 1, 2, 3 , Zhaoyang Zeng 1, 2, 3 1 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Hunan Cancer Hospital and The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 2 The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis of the Chinese Ministry of Health, Cancer Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 3 The Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion of the Chinese Ministry of Education, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 4 Department of Stomatolog, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 5 Hunan Key Laboratory of Nonresolving Inflammation and Cancer, Disease Genome Research Center, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China 6 Department of Cancer Biology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Zhaoyang Zeng, email: zengzhaoyang@csu.edu.cn Wei Xiong, email: xiongwei@csu.edu.cn Keywords: long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), long intergenic non-coding RNA 673 (LINC00673), tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC), prognosis, metastasis Received: November 01, 2016      Accepted: November 21, 2016      Published: December 25, 2016 ABSTRACT Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) associated with the tumorigenesis of human cancers. However, the relevance of lncRNAs in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is still unclear. To discover novel TSCC-related lncRNAs, we analyzed the lncRNA expression patterns in two sets of TSCC gene expression profile data, and found that long intergenic non-coding RNA 673 ( LINC00673 ) was significantly upregulated in TSCC samples. Then we examined LINC00673 expression in 202 TSCC tissue specimens, LINC00673 is highly expressed in a significant proportion of human TSCC biopsies and correlates with poor prognosis. Knockdown LINC00673 significantly inhibited the cell invasion and migration capability in TSCC cells. Our findings suggest that LINC00673 may play an essential role in TSCC progression and might serve as a potential biomarker for early detection and prognosis prediction of TSCC.