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Upregulation LncRNA MEG3 expression suppresses proliferation and metastasis in melanoma via miR-208/SOX4

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Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate gene expression and play a significant role in cancer progression. Previously, downregulation of lncRNA MEG3 was shown to associate with poor clinical outcomes in melanoma patients. The basis for this association has not been described and the aims of this study were to identify a role for lncRNA MEG3 in melanoma and to describe its regulatory mechanism of action. RT-qPCR was used to detect lncRNA MEG3 expression in melanoma cells and tissues. Luciferase reporter assays were used to identify lncRNA MEG3 downstream targets. Melanoma cells were transfected with various expression vectors and these transfected cells were assessed for; migration, colony formation, proliferation, in vivo tumorigenesis, and metastatic potential. Melanoma cell lines were found to be sensitive to lncRNA MEG3 expression levels and overexpression was found to inhibit melanoma cell proliferation and invasion, both in vitro and in vivo. Luciferase reporter assays identified miR-208 and SOX4 as downstream targets of lncRNA MEG3. Overexpression of miR-208 and silencing of SOX4 rescued invasion and proliferation by cells that overexpressed lncRNA MEG3. Moreover, lncRNA MEG3 inhibited cancer stem cell differentiation and suppressed melanoma progression and metastasis through inhibition of miR-208 by SOX4.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed for this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

No specific public, commercial, or not-for-profit sector supported this study.

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Author notes

  1. Yi Yang and Liang Jin have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, The 1st Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China

    Yi Yang, Liang Jin, Juan He, Rui Wang, Yilin Wang & Jia Bai

  2. Department of Dermatology, Air Force Medical Center, PLA., Beijing, China

    Liang Jin

  3. Department of Plastic Surgery, The 1st Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China

    Youbai Chen

  4. Department of Orthopedics, The 4th Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital; National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation, No. 51 of FuCheng Road, Beijing, 100037, China

    Zhanpeng Luo

Authors
  1. Yi Yang
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  3. Juan He
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  4. Rui Wang
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  5. Yilin Wang
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  6. Jia Bai
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Contributions

YY, LJ, YC, and ZL contributed to study concept and design. All authors collected the data and performed data analysis. JH, RW and YW interpreted data and completed the Figures and Tables. JB and YY prepared the initial draft of the article and approved the submitted version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Youbai Chen or Zhanpeng Luo.

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All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ethical approval was given by the Ethics Committee of The First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital.

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Yang, Y., Jin, L., He, J. et al. Upregulation LncRNA MEG3 expression suppresses proliferation and metastasis in melanoma via miR-208/SOX4. Mol Cell Biochem 478, 407–414 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-022-04515-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-022-04515-z

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