LncRNAs PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 negatively regulate each other to participate in endometrial carcinoma cell proliferation.

Abstract

Endometrial carcinoma (EC), also known as corpus cancer or corpus uterine cancer, is the most frequently diagnosed genital cancer among women in developed countries. Our preliminary RNA-seq analysis revealed the inverse correlation between the expression of PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 across EC tissues, indicating the possible interaction between them. This study aimed to explore the interaction between two long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 in EC. Investigation of the interaction between two lncRNAs in cancer biology is a novel topic. The expression of PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 in EC and paired non-tumor tissues from 60 EC patients were determined by RT-qPCR. Correlations between them were analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient. PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 were overexpressed in EC cells to study the relationship between them. The roles of PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 in regulating the proliferation of EC cells were assessed by CCK-8 assay. PSMG3-AS1 was upregulated, while MEG3 was downregulated in EC. Across EC tissues, the expression of PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 were inversely correlated. In EC cells, overexpression of PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 resulted in the downregulation of each other. In cell proliferation assay, PSMG3-AS1 promoted cell proliferation, and MEG3 inhibited cell proliferation. Moreover, the proliferation rate of cells co-transfected with PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 expression vectors was not different from that in cells without transfections. In conclusion, PSMG3-AS1 and MEG3 may negatively regulate each other to regulate EC cell proliferation.