LncRNA H19 promotes lung cancer proliferation and metastasis by inhibiting miR-200a function

Lung cancer is the major cause leading to cancer mortality, and the 5-year survival rate for patients with lung cancer still remains low. It is urgent to fully understand the development and progression of lung cancer to discover new therapeutic targets and develop new therapeutic approaches. H19 was documented to be upregulated in lung cancer and related to cell proliferation. However, it is still unclear if H19 has other functions in lung cancer. The mRNA levels of genes were detected by qRT-PCR, and the cell proliferation rate and cell viability were measured through cell count assay and MTT assay. Transwell assays were applied to detect cell abilities to migration and invasion, while luciferase reporter assay and RNA pull-down assay were used to examine interaction between H19 and miR-200a. H19 expression was elevated in the lung cancer tissues and cell lines, while H19 overexpression promoted the lung cancer cell growth, cell migration and invasion, as well as the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT). Meantime, RNA pull-down assay showed that H19 interacted with miR-200a, and miR-200a inhibited the activity of H19-fused luciferase. Furthermore, H19 overexpression inhibited miR-200a function and thereby upregulated miR-200a target genes, ZEB1 and ZEB2.H19 sponged and inhibited miR-200a to de-repress expression of ZEB1 and ZEB2, and thereby enhanced lung cancer proliferation and metastasis.