Upregulation of the long non-coding rna hotair promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma metastasis and poor prognosis

Recent studies of the individual functionalities of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the development and progression of cancer have suggested that HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) is capable of reprogramming chromatin organization and promoting cancer cell metastasis. In order to ascertain the expression pattern of the lncRNA HOTAIR and assess its biological role in the development and progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), HOTAIR expression in ESCC tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues were collected from 78 patients and measured by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). HOTAIR correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis was also analyzed. Suppression of HOTAIR using siRNA treatment was performed in order to explore its role in tumor progression. Notably elevated HOTAIR expression levels were observed in cancerous tissues compared to adjacent noncancerous tissues (96%, P