THE ROLE AND MECHANISM OF LONG NON-CODING RNA-ANRIL IN THE INVASION AND METASTASIS OF THYROID CANCER

Yunpeng Zhu^{1, #}, Yan Liu^{2, #}, Qingyun Zhu³, Zhimin Han¹, Hui Wang¹, Junhui Wang¹, Kefeng Gao¹, Xinting Pan^{3, *}

¹ Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Sanmenxia Central Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Sanmenxia, PR China - ²Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Sanmenxia Central Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Sanmenxia, PR China -³Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, PR China

Objective: to analyse the role and mechanism of antisense noncoding RNA at the INK4 locus in the invasion and metastasis of thyroid cancer. 

Methods: human papillary thyroid carcinoma cell lines TPC-1 and SW579 were collected and cultured to construct the negative control group (transfected with NC), blank control group (blank, without any treatment), si-ANRIL group (silenced expression of ANRIL), si-TGFβ1 group (silenced expression of TGF-β1) and si-(ANRIL+TGF-β1) group (silenced expression of ANRIL and TGFβ1 groups). A transwell chamber was used to analyse the effect of ANRIL on the migration and invasion of thyroid cancer cells, and protein immunoblot was used to analyse the effect of ANRIL on TGF-β/Smad signal pathway. 

Results: the number of cells migrating in the si-ANRIL group was significantly less than in the negative control, while that in the si-TGFβ1 and si-(ANRIL+TGF-β1) groups was significantly greater (P<0.05). The number of cells migrating in the si-TGFβ1 and si-(ANRIL+TGFβ1) groups was significantly greater than in the si-ANRIL group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the number of cells migrating between the blank control group and the negative control group (P>0.05). The number of cells invading in the si-ANRIL group was significantly less than in the negative control, and the number of cells invading in the si-TGFβ1 and si-(ANRIL+TGFβ1) groups was significantly greater (P<0.05); the number of cells invading in the si-TGFβ1 and si-(ANRIL+TGFβ1) groups was significantly greater (P<0.05) than in the si-ANRIL group. There was no significant difference in the number of cells invading between the blank control group and the negative control group (P > 0.05). The expression of TGFβ and Smad2/3 protein in the si-ANRIL group was significantly greater than in the negative control group, while that in the si-TGFβ1 and si-TGFβ1 groups decreased significantly (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression of TGF-β and Smad2/3 between the blank control group and the negative control group (P>0.05). 

Conclusion: the TGFβ/Smad signal pathway elucidated the effect and mechanism of lncRNA-ANRIL on invasion and metastasis of thyroid cancer.