BRAF-activated non-protein coding RNA (BANCR) advances the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via cell cycle

Esophageal carcinoma is one of the important lethal tumors in the world, but the mechanism of esophageal cancer progression is still unclear. The long non-coding RNAs are known to regulate tumor progression. Here we report that BRAF-activated nonprotein coding RNA (BANCR) is associated with the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The expression levels of BANCR in 132 ESCC tumor tissues detected by quantitative real-time PCR were significantly higher than that in the adjacent normal tissues. The expression level of BANCR was down-regulated by transfecting small interrupting RNA against BANCR (BANCR siRNA) in Eca109 cells. Eca109 and TE-1 cells transfected with BANCR siRNA led to the delayed cell cycles compared to the cells transfected with negative control siRNA. Moreover, MTT assays demonstrated that Eca109 cells transfected with BANCR siRNA resulted in the inhibition of cell proliferation. These results suggested that BANCR advances the development and progression of ESCC cells through regulating their cell cycles.