Increased expression of lncRNA SNHG12 predicts a poor prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and regulates cell proliferation and metastasis by modulating Notch signal pathway

BACKGROUND: Small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) has been shown to be a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that facilitates the progression of a number of malignancies. However, the expression pattern and biological function of SNHG12 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study is to investigate the expression, clinical significance and function of SNHG12 in NPC. METHODS: RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of SNHG12 in NPC cell lines and primary tumor tissues. The correlation of SNHG12 with clinicopathological features and patient prognosis was analyzed. The biologic functions of SNHG12 in NPC were explored by MTT assay, colony formation assay, wound healing assays, transwell assay and flow cytometric analysis in vitro. The expression of EMT markers and Notch signal pathway markers were determined by western blotting. RESULTS: The expression levels of SNHG12 were up-regulated in both NPC tissues and cell lines. High SNHG12 expression was significantly associated with clinical stage, grade and poor prognosis. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that high lncRNA SNHG12 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for NPC patients. Functionally, knockdown of SNHG12 suppressed NPC cells proliferation, migration and invasion. Mechanistic investigations showed that knockdown of SNHG12 suppressed the activation of EMT and Notch-1 signal pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that SNHG12 promotes the progression of NPC and is a potential therapeutic target for NPC intervention.