Expression of long non-coding RNA SFTA1P and its effect on biological functions in lung squamous cell carcinoma

To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), surfactant associated 1 pseudogene (SFTA1P) in lung squamous carcinoma and its effect on the biological functions of SFTA1P in lung squamous carcinoma cell lines.

Based on the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) database, the differential expression of SFTA1P in tumor and normal tissues were compared in patients diagnosed with lung squamous cell carcinoma. Then, the expression of SFTA1P was detected in human normal lung epithelial cell line BEAS-2B and lung squamous cell lines SK-MES-1 and H520 with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). SK-MES-1 and H520 cells with overexpression and/or knockdown of SFTA1P were constructed by transfecting the overexpression plasmids (pcDNA3.1-SFTA1P) and small interfering RNAs (si-SFTA1P-1 and si-SFTA1P-2). CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay were used to investigate the effect of SFTA1P on biological functions in lung squamous carcinoma cells. Differential gene expression analysis, correlation analysis and functional enrichment analysis were employed to explore the potential mechanism that SFTA1P may affect biological functions of lung squamous cells.

Analysis of TCGA showed that the expression of SFTA1P was significantly lower in lung squamous cell carcinoma tissue than adjacent normal tissue (P<0.05). RT-PCR results showed that the expression of SFTA1P was obviously lower in lung squamous carcinoma cells than the human normal lung epithelial cells (P<0.05). And the expression level of SFTA1P was relatively lower in the SK-MES-1 cells than the H520 cells (P<0.05). Overexpression of SFTA1P suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of lung squamous carcinoma cells (P<0.05), while its knockdown promoted these abilities (P<0.05). Differential gene expression analysis, correlation analysis and functional enrichment analysis indicated that SFTA1P may inhibit MYC, G2m checkpoints and E2f signaling pathways in lung squamous cell carcinoma.

SFTA1P shows anti-cancer function in lung squamous cell carcinoma, and it may affect the biological functions of lung squamous cell carcinoma cells through down-regulating MYC, G2m checkpoints and E2f signaling pathways.