Knockdown of lncRNA PVT1 inhibits retinoblastoma progression by sponging miR-488-3p

Emerging evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a regulatory role in the pathogenesis and progression of retinoblastoma (RB). lncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) is highly expressed in a plenty of tumors, and is believed to serve as an oncogene. However, the expression, roles, and action mechanisms of PVT1 in the carcinogenesis and progression of RB are still largely unknown. In this study, we found that PVT1 was upregulated in RB tissues and cell lines. PVT1 levels correlated with optic nerve invasion, and intraocular international retinoblastoma classify (IIRC) stage. In addition, the results demonstrated that patients with RB who showed higher expression of PVT1 had worse overall survivals. In WERI-Rb1 and Y79 cells, PVT1 silencing significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell cycle progression and induced cell apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, in vivo xenograft assay indicated that PVT1 knockdown suppressed the tumor volume and tumor weight. The analysis of the mechanisms of action revealed that the reduction of PVT1 inhibited the expression of notch2 by upregulating miR-488-3p. In general, our results demonstrated that PVT1 may be a novel biomarker for prognosis and a new target for the treatment of RB.