LncRNA SNHG20 is associated with clinical progression and enhances cell migration and invasion in osteosarcoma

SNHG20 is a novel lncRNA which has been showed to be overexpressed and functions as oncogenic lncRNA in several types of human cancer. The role of SNHG20 in osteosarcoma is still unknown. The purpose of our study was to identify the clinical value and biological function of SNHG20 in osteosarcoma. Our results indicated SNHG20 was overexpressed in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines compared with paired non-tumor tissues and normal human osteoblast cell line, respectively. Moreover, we observed high-expression of SNHG20 was obviously associated with Enneking stage, distant metastasis, and histological grade. SNHG20 expression was negatively associated with overall survival, and high-expression of SNHG20 was an independent unfavorable prognostic factor in osteosarcoma patients. Furthermore, SNHG20 promoted osteosarcoma cell migration and invasion through modulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition -associated genes. In conclusion, SNHG20 is an independent unfavorable prognostic factor in osteosarcoma patients, and functions as an oncogenic lncRNA to modulate tumor cell migration and invasion. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 70(11):1115-1121, 2018.