Purpose: Esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) has high rates of recurrence and mortality. Small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) is known to promote the progression of several cancers. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the expression and role of SNHG12 in ESCC.
Methods: The expression and clinical value of SNHG12 in esophageal cancer were explored using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the online server GEPIA. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to verify the expression levels of SNHG12 in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Furthermore, loss-of-function assays were performed to examine the effect of SNHG12 on ESCC cells in vitro and in vivo. The potential competing endogenous RNA networks of SNHG12 in ESCC were explored.
Results: SNHG12 was downregulated in human ESCA tissues compared to control tissues. The expression of SNHG12 was strongly associated with T stage, N stage, and TNM stage. Low SNHG12 expression in esophageal tumor tissues was significantly correlated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, knockdown of SNHG12 not only promoted proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion and inhibited apoptosis in ESCC cells in vitro, but also increased tumor growth in vivo. Additionally, this proves that the SNHG12/miRNA-195-5p/BCL9 network might be involved in ESCC.
Conclusion: This is the first study to reveal that SNHG12 is downregulated in ESCC tissues and could be used as a prognostic tool. SNHG12 suppressed tumor progression in ESCC cells, serving as a potential biomarker. The SNHG12/miRNA-195-5p/BCL9 network is proposed to be the mechanism leading to ESCC progression.
Keywords: Competing endogenous networks; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; Prognosis; SNHG12; lncRNAs.