A novel long non-coding RNA TONSL-AS1 regulates progression of gastric cancer via activating TONSL

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are reported to play a significant role in various malignant tumors, yet their potential functions in gastric cancer are not clear. In this study, we found a novel lncRNA, named TONSL-AS1, was downregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines compared with the normal. TONSL-AS1 inhibited cell migration, invasion and proliferation in SGC-7901, MGC-803 cells. Furthermore, TONSL-AS1 could suppress cell tumorigenesis in vivo. Mechanistically, TONSL-AS1's genomic neighboring gene TONSL, which was reported as a tumor suppress gene, was upregulated by TONSL. Additionally, the TONSL-AS1 was positively associated with TONSL in cancer tissues. Our study revealed that the tumor-inhibiting effect of TONSL-AS1 in gastric cancer cells was associated with TONSL. In general, our results indicated that TONSL-AS1 works as a tumor suppressor lncRNA, which may be a new therapeutic target for gastric cancer.