Knockdown of SNHG8 repressed the growth, migration, and invasion of colorectal cancer cells by directly sponging with miR-663

Abstract Aberrant expression of SNHG8 has been observed in some types of cancers. However, whether SNHG8 was aberrantly expressed in colorectal cancer and whether it could exert any function on the development of colorectal cancer remains largely elusive. In this study, we first investigated the expression pattern and biological function of SNHG8 in colorectal cancer. The expression level of SNHG8 was investigated in colorectal cancer tissues as well as in colorectal cancer cell lines by real-time PCR. Next, CCK8 assays were performed to evaluate the effects of SNHG8 on the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells and transwell assays were employed to evaluate migration and invasion. Bioinformatics were used for predicting the sponging miRNAs that interact with SNHG8. A dual luciferase reporter assay was adopted for the verification of interaction between SNHG8 and miRNA. Our data showed that SNHG8 was significantly up-regulated in colorectal cancer tissues and cell lines. In addition, knockdown of SNHG8 significantly inhibited the growth, migration, and invasion of colorectal cancer cells. It was predicted that miR-663 might interact with SNHG8 and the direct sponging was verified by dual luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, rescue experiments revealed that SNHG8 played a tumor promoting role by regulating miR-663. In the present study, we revealed that SNHG8 was up-regulated in colorectal cancer and promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of colorectal cancer by sponging miR-663, which helps to further reveal the underlying developmental mechanism of action and provides a potential therapeutic molecule for colorectal cancer therapy in the future.