Increased EWSAT1 expression promotes cell proliferation, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer.

Objective: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently been identified as crucial regulators in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. The aim of the study is to investigate the clinical role and biological effects of long non-coding RNA EWSAT1 in CRC. Patients and

Methods: The expression of lncRNA EWSAT1 was detected in 106 cases of fresh CRC tissues and matched adjacent normal tissues by qRT-PCR analyses. The Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test were used to assess the association between lncRNA EWSAT1 expression and overall survival (OS) rate of CRC patients. Cell proliferation and invasion capacity were evaluated by CCK8 assay, colony formation, and transwell invasion assays. The protein expression was detected using western blot analysis.

Results: LncRNA EWSAT1 expression was abnormally higher in CRC tissues compared to matched adjacent normal tissues. Higher lncRNA EWSAT1 expression significantly associated with depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and advanced tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage in CRC patients. Patients with higher EWSAT1 expression exhibited shorter OS compared with patients with lower EWSAT1 expression. Furthermore, lncRNA EWSAT1 knockdown significantly suppressed cell proliferation and invasion in CRC. In addition, lncRNA EWSAT1 knockdown suppressed cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through reducing Snail1, Snail2, and N-cadherin expression, but increasing E-cadherin expression in CRC cells.

Conclusions: Downregulation of lncRNA EWSAT1 suppressed cell proliferation and invasion of CRC, which indicated that EWSAT1 may be a potential target of CRC treatment.