Objective: Recently, long noncoding RNA (lncRNAs) have got much attention for their role in the progression of cancers. In this research, lncRNA linc-ITGB1 was studied to identify whether it affects the development of colorectal cancer (CRC).
Patients and methods: Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) was performed to detect the linc-ITGB1 expression of CRC cells and tissues. Moreover, the associations between linc-ITGB1 expression level and patients' overall survival rate were further analyzed. Furthermore, we conducted function assays, including wound healing assay and transwell assay, to explore the effect of linc-ITGB1 on CRC metastasis in vitro. In addition, the underlying mechanism was further studied.
Results: RT-qPCR results showed that linc-ITGB1 expression level was higher in CRC samples than that in adjacent tissues. Linc-ITGB1 expression was related closely to patients' overall survival time. Moreover, cell migration and cell invasion were inhibited after linc-ITGB1 was silenced in vitro. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression of BDNF was downregulated by the silence of linc-ITGB1. Furthermore, the expression level of BDNF was higher in CRC samples than that in adjacent tissues and was positively related to the expression of linc-ITGB.
Conclusions: These results indicate that linc-ITGB1 could enhance CRC cell migration and invasion via upregulating BDNF. Linc-ITGB1 might be a potential therapeutic target for CRC patients.