Mechanism of LncRNA ROR promoting prostate cancer by regulating Akt

To investigate the expression of long-chain non-coding RNA ROR in prostate cancer (PCa), and to further study its possible underlying mechanisms in prostate cancer.

Quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect the level of lncRNA ROR in 42 pairs of PCa tissues and adjacent normal tissues, and the correlation between ROR level and PCa pathological parameters was also evaluated. Besides, ROR expression in PCa cells was further verified by qRT-PCR, and ROR knockdown model was constructed using lentivirus in PCa cell lines including PC-3 and Lncap. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), transwell invasion and cell scratch assay were used to analyze the effect of ROR on the biological function of PCa cells and explore its underlying mechanism.

QRT-PCR results demonstrated that ROR levels in PCa tissues were notably higher than that in normal ones, and the difference was statistically significant. Compared with patients with lowly-expressed ROR, patients with high ROR level had relatively more advanced tumor stage, higher incidence of lymph node or distant metastasis. Similarly, compared with negative control group, the cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis ability of the ROR knockdown group was significantly decreased. In addition, qRT-PCR results indicated that the expression of Akt, the key protein in the Akt signaling pathway, was significantly reduced in si-ROR cell lines. Furthermore, rescue experiment revealed that there was a mutual regulation between ROR and Akt.

LncRNA ROR expression is strikingly increased in PCa tissues or cells, and is considerably associated with PCa stage, lymph node and distant metastasis. Additionally, LncRNA ROR may promote PCa cell proliferation, invasion and migration by regulating Akt.