LncRNA-NEF inhibits proliferation, migration and invasion of esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma cells by inactivating wnt/β-catenin pathway

Our study aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA-Neighboring Enhancer of FOXA2 (NEF) in esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma.Tumor tissues and adjacent tissues were obtained from esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma patients, and blood samples were extracted from both patients with esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma and healthy volunteers. The expression of NEF was detected by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). All patients were followed-up for 5 years and ROC curve analysis and survival analysis were performed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic values of serum NEF for esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma. NEF expression vector was transfected into cells of esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma cell lines. Cell proliferation, migration and invasion were detected by CCK-8 assay, transwell migration assay, and transwell invasion assay, respectively. The interaction between NEF and wnt/β-catenin pathway were explored by Western blot and qRT-PCR.Expression of NEF was significantly downregulated in tumor tissues than in adjacent tissues in most patients. Serum level of NEF was higher in esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma patients than in healthy controls, and was significantly correlated with tumor size and tumor distant tumor metastasis. Serum NEF is a promising diagnostic and prognostic marker for esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma. NEF overexpression inhibited cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion. NEF overexpression decreased the expression levels of wnt/β-catenin pathway-related proteins, while Wnt activator showed no significant effects on NEF. However, Wnt inhibitor reduced the effects of NEF overexpression on cell proliferation, migration and invasion.LncRNA NEF may inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma cells by inactivating with wnt/β-catenin pathway.