Long noncoding RNA BLACAT1 promotes cell proliferation and invasion in human cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in females worldwide. Predisposition to distant metastasis has reduced the prognosis of this malignancy, thus the identification of a novel agent for metastatic cervical cancer is required. Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been reported to serve significant roles in human tumorigenesis. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of a newly discovered LncRNA bladder cancer associated transcript 1 (non-protein coding) (BLACAT1) on cell proliferation and metastasis in cervical cancer. A total of 100 patients with cervical cancer were included, and tumor tissues as well as the adjacent non-cancerous counterparts were collected for reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. It was demonstrated that BLACAT1 was highly expressed in human cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. The knockdown of BLACAT1 with specific short hairpin RNA reduced colony formation rates in ME180 and C33A cells. Cell cycle and cell proliferation assays revealed that depletion of BLACAT1 in ME180, and C33A cells arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase and inhibited cell proliferation. Transwell assays demonstrated that the knockdown of BLACAT1 inhibited cell migration and invasion in ME180, and C33A cells. Moreover, wound-healing assays supported the aformentioned observations. Western blot analysis showed that the knockdown of BLACAT1 in ME180 and C33A cells decreased the protein levels of cyclin B1, cell division cycle 25C, and N-cadherin, while increasing the protein level of E-cadherin. These findings indicated the oncogenic potential of BLACAT1 in cervical cancer, which may provide novel insights for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer.