Long non-coding RNA DUXAP8 regulates the cell proliferation and invasion of non-small-cell lung cancer

To investigate how long non-coding RNAs DUXAP8 (LncRNA DUXAP8) influence the cell proliferation and invasion of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we detected the expression levels of LncRNA DUXAP8 in lung cancer (LC) tissues, 4 LC-related cell lines (A549, SPC-A1, SK-MES-1 and NCI-H1299) and normal lung tissues via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Compared with normal lung tissue, LncRNA DUXAP8 was significantly up-regulated in NSCLC, especially in stage III / IV and diameter >= 3cm of lung cancer. Among 4 lung cancer cell lines, LncRNA DUXAP8 in A549 cells was the highest (P<0.001). Construction of LncRNA DUXAP8 overexpression and LncRNA DUXAP8 knockout in A549 cell lines was further performed and subsequently injected into nude mice to build an in vivo tumor xenograft model. The results indicated that LncRNA DUXAP8 overexpression significantly promoted the A549 cells' proliferation, enhanced invasion and induced tumor growth. Conversely, LncRNA DUXAP8 knockout significantly suppressed A549 cells' proliferation, weakened invasion and inhibited tumor growth. Taken together, our results imply that LncRNA DUXAP8 is a potential regulatory molecular marker in non-small-cell lung cancer.