Upregulation of the Long Non-coding RNA PlncRNA-1 Promotes Esophageal Squamous Carcinoma Cell Proliferation and Correlates with Advanced Clinical Stage

Recent studies revealed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical regulatory roles in cancer biology. PlncRNA-1 is one of lncRNAs that is associated with cell apoptosis and proliferation of prostate cancer. This study aimed to assess the potential role of PlncRNA-1 in the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression level of PlncRNA-1 in 73 pairs of ESCC and their matched normal tissues. The correlation of PlncRNA-1 with clinicopathological features and clinical stages was also analyzed. Cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis were assessed following knock-down of PlncRNA-1 by MTT, colony formation assay, and flow cytometry. The expression of PlncRNA-1 was significantly higher in human ESCC compared with the adjacent noncancerous tissues (69.8 %, p