Abstract
Gastric cancer (GC) is a serious health problem worldwide. The potential involvement of long noncoding RNAs in GC progression remains largely unexplored. Here, we identified a novel long noncoding RNA referred to as onclncRNA-626 (oncogenic lncRNA RP11-626H12.3), which was highly upregulated in GC tissues. The high expression levels of onclncRNA-626 in GC patients predicted poor prognoses. Functional assays indicated that onclncRNA-626 could promote the proliferation and metastasis of GC cells in vitro and in vivo. In exploring the molecular mechanisms guiding these functions, we found that onclncRNA-626 specifically interacted with serine- and arginine-rich splicing factor 1 (SRSF1) and increased its stability. SRSF1 was upregulated in GC tissues and correlated with onclncRNA-626 expression and patient survival. Furthermore, RNA-seq data revealed that onclncRNA-626 affected multiple signaling pathways, including the p53 signaling pathway. Rescue experiments showed that onclncRNA-626 probably performed its biological function through SRSF1 mediation of the p53 pathway. Together, our findings demonstrate that onclncRNA-626 promotes GC progression by binding SRSF1; further, this lncRNA is a potential prognostic biomarker for GC patients.