YY1-induced upregulation of FOXP4-AS1 and FOXP4 promote the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells

Yonghui Li; Tingting Li; Yongbin Yang; Wenli Kang; Shaoyong Dong; Shujie Cheng

doi:10.1002/cbin.11338

YY1-induced upregulation of FOXP4-AS1 and FOXP4 promote the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells

Cell Biol Int. 2020 Jul;44(7):1447-1457. doi: 10.1002/cbin.11338. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

Authors

Yonghui Li¹, Tingting Li¹, Yongbin Yang², Wenli Kang³, Shaoyong Dong¹, Shujie Cheng⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, No. 212, Yuhuadonglu, Hebei, 071000, P.R. China.
² Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Hebei University, No. 342, Yuhuadonglu, Hebei, 071000, P.R. China.
³ Department of Obstetrics, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, No. 212, Yuhuadonglu, Hebei, 071000, P.R. China.
⁴ Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, No. 212, Yuhuadonglu, Baoding, Hebei, 071000, P.R. China.

PMID: 32159250
DOI: 10.1002/cbin.11338

Abstract

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) belongs to one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide and possesses high mortality. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated to be essential biological participants in the progression of ESCC. On the basis of bio-informatics prediction, forkhead box P4 antisense RNA 1 (FOXP4-AS1) and forkhead box P4 (FOXP4) were upregulated in esophageal carcinoma samples and were positively correlated with each other. The present study aimed to explore the function of FOXP4-AS1 and FOXP4 in ESCC cells. Function assays disclosed that knockdown of FOXP4-AS1 or FOXP4 efficiently suppressed cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis. Moreover, FOXP4-AS1 positively regulated FOXP4 by interacting with insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2) to stabilize FOXP4 messenger RNA. In addition, FOXP4-AS1 could upregulate the expression of FOXP4 by sponging miR-3184-5p. Finally, we found that Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is a transcription factor that can transcriptionally activate both FOXP4-AS1 and FOXP4 in ESCC cells. In a word, YY1-induced upregulation of FOXP4-AS1 and FOXP4 promote the proliferation of ESCC cells.

Keywords: ESCC; FOXP4; FOXP4-AS1; IGF2BP2; proliferation.

MeSH terms

Cell Line, Tumor
Cell Proliferation / genetics*
Esophageal Neoplasms / genetics
Esophageal Neoplasms / pathology*
Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma / genetics
Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma / pathology
Forkhead Transcription Factors / genetics*
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics*
Head and Neck Neoplasms / genetics
Humans
Mouth Neoplasms / genetics
RNA, Antisense / genetics
RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics
Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / genetics
Up-Regulation
YY1 Transcription Factor / genetics*
YY1 Transcription Factor / metabolism

Substances

FOXP4 protein, human
Forkhead Transcription Factors
RNA, Antisense
RNA, Long Noncoding
YY1 Transcription Factor
YY1 protein, human