LncRNA CERNA2 is an independent predictor for clinical prognosis and is related to tumor development in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is the second most common cancer-related mortality worldwide. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that dysregulated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the development of GC. LncRNA CERNA2 (competing endogenous lncRNA 2 for microRNA let-7b) was previously found to be upregulated and play an oncogenic role in hepatocellular carcinoma, osteosarcoma and breast cancer. However, the clinical significance and biological functions of CERNA2 in GC remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that CERNA2 expression was significantly increased in GC tissues and cell lines compared to adjacent non-cancerous tissues and normal gastric epithelial cells, respectively. High levels of CERNA2 were correlated with poor clinical parameters and an unfavorable prognosis of GC patients. Moreover, silencing CERNA2 expression effectively inhibited gastric cancer cell growth and induced cell apoptosis in vitro. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the up-regulation of CERNA2 is associated with malignant status and poor prognosis in patients with GC, and silencing CERNA2 expression inhibits gastric cancer cell growth and promotes cell apoptosis, suggesting CERNA2 could possibly be a promising diagnostic and treatment target for GC.