Abstract
BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer (EC) is a highly aggressive malignant tumor, of which esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) constitutes the main subtype. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) small nucleolar RNA host gene 7 (SNHG7) has been extensively studied in many tumors and has been confirmed to be an oncogene; however, it has yet to be investigated in an ESCC study. Therefore, this study intended to uncover the role of SNHG7 in ESCC. METHODS: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was applied to measure the expression levels of SNHG7 and miR-625 in ESCC tumor tissues and cell lines. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine assay, scratch assay, and Transwell assay were conducted to assess the proliferation, migration, and invasion ESCC cell. We verified the interaction between SNHG7 and miR-625 by performing the dual luciferase reporter gene experiment. RESULTS: Compared to that in adjacent normal tissues and HET1A cell lines, the expression level of SNHG7 in ESCC tumor tissues and ESCC cell lines was up-regulated, while the expression level of miR-625 was down-regulated. ESCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were significantly promoted by SNHG7 overexpression but inhibited by silencing of SNHG7. Further, luciferase reporter gene experiments confirmed that SNHG7 interacted with miR-625, and rescue experiments showed that SNHG7 promoted the malignant phenotype by inhibiting miR-625. CONCLUSIONS: SNHG7 is up-regulated in ESCC tumor tissues and cell lines, while miR-625 is expressed at a low level. SNHG7 is able to facilitate the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCC cells by targeting miR-625.