LncRNA MIR31HG targets HIF1A and P21 to facilitate head and neck cancer cell proliferation and tumorigenesis by promoting cell-cycle progression

Ru Wang; Zhihong Ma; Ling Feng; Yifan Yang; Chen Tan; Qian Shi; Meng Lian; Shizhi He; Hongzhi Ma; Jugao Fang

doi:10.1186/s12943-018-0916-8

LncRNA MIR31HG targets HIF1A and P21 to facilitate head and neck cancer cell proliferation and tumorigenesis by promoting cell-cycle progression

Mol Cancer. 2018 Nov 20;17(1):162. doi: 10.1186/s12943-018-0916-8.

Authors

Ru Wang^{1

2}, Zhihong Ma^{3

4}, Ling Feng^{1

2}, Yifan Yang^{1

2}, Chen Tan^{1

2}, Qian Shi^{1

2}, Meng Lian^{1

2}, Shizhi He^{1

2}, Hongzhi Ma^{1

2}, Jugao Fang^{5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, China.
² Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (Ministry of Education of China), Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Beijing, 100005, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Head and Neck Molecular Diagnostic Pathology, Beijing, 100730, China.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology, Chengde Central Hospital, Chengde, 067000, Hebei, China.
⁵ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, China. [email protected].
⁶ Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (Ministry of Education of China), Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Beijing, 100005, China. [email protected].
⁷ Beijing Key Laboratory of Head and Neck Molecular Diagnostic Pathology, Beijing, 100730, China. [email protected].

Abstract

LncRNAs are involved in the initiation and progression of cancer. However, the molecular mechanism and diverse clinical prognosis of MIR31HG in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are still unclear. Our previous microarray analysis showed that lncRNA MIR31HG interacted with HIF1A may play an oncogenic role in laryngeal squamous cell cancer (LSCC). To determine whether lncRNA MIR31HG served as a poor prognosis factor and targeted HIF1A to facilitate cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in human HNSCC, we found MIR31HG and HIF1A were overexpressed in LSCC, MIR31HG overexpression or co-expression of HIF1A-positive and p21-negative could serve as a poor prognostic factor for LSCC patients. We further confirmed that MIR31HG promoted cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, and inhibited cell apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. The ingenuity pathway analysis and Western blot indicated that MIR31HG regulated cell cycle progression via HIF1A and p21 in HNSCC. The current results provide evidences for the role of MIR31HG in promoting HNSCC progression and identify MIR31HG as a prognostic biomarker and putative therapeutic target in HNSCC.

Keywords: Cell cycle; HIF1A; HNSCC; Prognosis; lncRNA MIR31HG; p21.

Publication types

Letter
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomarkers, Tumor
Cell Cycle / genetics*
Cell Line, Tumor
Cell Proliferation
Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / genetics*
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21 / genetics*
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
Head and Neck Neoplasms / genetics*
Head and Neck Neoplasms / mortality
Head and Neck Neoplasms / pathology
Humans
Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / genetics*
Prognosis
RNA Interference*
RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*

Substances

Biomarkers, Tumor
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21
Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit
RNA, Long Noncoding
long noncoding RNA MIR31HG, human