LncRNA SNHG8 promotes proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer cells by targeting the miR-491/PDGFRA axis

This study aimed to investigate the effects of long non-coding small nucleolar RNA host gene 8 (SNHG8) on the proliferation and invasion of gastric cancer (GC). The GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues from 30 patients were collected. Human GC cell lines, including AGS, SGC-7901, MKN-1, and BGC-803 and normal human gastric epithelial cell line GES-1 were purchased and cultured. The Cell Counting Kit-8 and Western blots were used to access cell proliferation, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA) expression, respectively. qRT-PCR was used to evaluate the expression of SNHG8 and miRNA-491. A transwell assay was applied to evaluate cell invasion. This study illustrated that SNHG8 expression was upregulated in GC tissues, as well as in cell lines. Moreover, knockdown of SNHG8 inhibited GC cell proliferation and invasion. Significantly, we determined that miRNA-491 was not only downregulated in stomach cancer but also inhibited GC cell progression induced by SNHG8. Further investigation demonstrated that SNHG8 promoted the proliferation and invasion of GC cells by targeting the miR-491/PDGFRA axis. LncRNA SNHG8 promoted the proliferation and invasion of GC cells by targeting the miR-491/PDGFRA axis, which might provide new insight for potential therapeutic strategies for GC in the future.