Targeting long non-coding RNA HERC2P3 inhibits cell growth and migration in human gastric cancer cells

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in tumor development and progression. The lncRNA HERC2P3, located on human chromosome 15q11.1-q11.2, is one of pseudogenes of HERC2 (an E3 ubiquitin protein ligase). Its role and expression are still unclear in cancer. In the present study, we investigated the effects of HERC2P3 on gastric cancer cell growth and migration via CCK-8 assays and Transwell assays in vitro and tumor-bearing mouse model in vivo. The results demonstrated that HERC2P3 silencing inhibited cell growth and migration, although it only had a weak effect on cell growth. Western blot analysis revealed that Akt phosphorylation level could be reduced when HERC2P3 was knocked down, indicating Akt signaling may be involved in the HERC2P3-mediated tumor development. In addition, we analyzed the expression of HERC2P3 through quantitative RT-PCR in 30 paired gastric cancer samples and found HERC2P3 was up-regulated in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues compared with corresponding non-tumor tissues. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the abrogation of HERC2P3 could suppress tumor cell growth and migration, with important implication for validating HERC2P3 as a potential target for human gastric cancer therapy.