Long non-coding RNA ES1 controls the proliferation of breast cancer cells by regulating the Oct4/Sox2/miR-302 axis

ES1 is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that regulates pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells, which is known to be a downstream target of stemness factors Oct4 and Nanog, and serves as a modular scaffold for Sox2. However, the role of ES1 in cancer biology is not fully characterized. The results of our study show that ES1 transcript is upregulated in both high-grade and P53-mutated breast tumor tissues. Knockdown experiments show that ES1 suppression in breast cancer cells restricts cancer cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. Moreover, ES1 inhibition can also induce apoptosis and cellular senescence. Additionally, our data reveal that ES1 transcript promotes cell migration as well as the epithelial to mesenchymal transition of breast cancer cells. Furthermore, loss of ES1 expression downregulates the expression of Oct4/Sox2 and consequently leads to downregulation of their targets, miR-302 and miR-106b. Altogether, for the first time, our findings reveal that ES1 controls the proliferation and death of breast cancer cells by regulating the Oct4/Sox2/miR-302/miR-106b axis.