Abstract
It has been shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the carcinogenesis of multiple cancers. However, the roles of lncRNAs in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) remain elusive. In the present study, we found that lncNEN885 was markedly decreased in human gastric NEN samples compared to adjacent normal tissues by transcriptome sequencing. Functionally, silencing or overexpression of lncNEN885 could not obviously affect cell proliferation or apoptosis in BON-1 or LCC-18 cells but could affect cell migration and invasion as well as wound-healing rates. Furthermore, dysregulation of lncNEN885 affected these biological functions by activating epithelial-mesenchymal transition through increased expression of Snail, vimentin, and N-cadherin as well as decreased E-cadherin levels in BON-1 and LCC-18 cells. Silencing of lncNEN885 could dramatically increase the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β and decrease the expression of adenomatous polyposis coli and Axin, with the subsequent accumulation of β-catenin. Taken together, dysregulation of lncNEN885 can regulate cell migration and invasion by activating epithelial-mesenchymal transition process partially through canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling in GEP-NEN cells, which may be a novel biomarker for the metastasis of GEP-NENs.