Long noncoding RNA MIAT acts as an oncogene in Wilms' tumor through regulation of DGCR8

Recent researches have proved that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) cover an important role in malignant tumors. Our study showed how lncRNA myocardial infarction-associated transcript (MIAT) functions in the development of Wilms' tumor.

Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) was utilized to detect the MIAT expression in Wilms' tumor patients. The MIAT expression level and the patients' overall survival time were analyzed. Then, we conducted functional experiments to identify the changes in the biological behaviors of Wilms' tumor cells due to the loss of MIAT. Moreover, further experiments were performed to explore the potential mechanism.

By comparing with MIAT expression in adjacent tissues, the MIAT expression level was significantly higher in Wilms' tumor samples. Moreover, the cell growth ability of Wilms' tumor cells was inhibited due to the loss of MIAT. The migrated and invaded ability of the Wilms' tumor cells was inhibited due to the loss of MIAT. Furthermore, the expression of DGCR8 was downregulated due to the loss of MIAT. In addition, it was found that the DGCR8 expression was positively correlated to MIAT expression in Wilms' tumor tissues.

The above results suggested that MIAT could promote the cell proliferation and the metastasis of Wilms' tumor by upregulating DGCR8, which indicated that MIAT might be a potential target for the diagnosis and therapy of Wilms' tumor.