LncRNA-SNHG16 predicts poor prognosis and promotes tumor proliferation through epigenetically silencing p21 in bladder cancer.

More and more evidences have ensured the crucial functions of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in multiple tumors. It has been discovered that lncRNA-SNHG16 is involved in many tumors. Even so, it is still necessary to study SNHG16 comprehensively in bladder cancer. In terms of our study, the level of SNHG16 both in the tumor tissues and cell lines was measured and the relationship among SNHG16, clinicopathological traits and prognosis was explored. Interference assays were applied to determine the biological functions of SNHG16. It was discovered that the level of SNHG16 was evidently enhanced both in tissues and cell lines of bladder cancer. Patients with highly expressed SNHG16 suffered from poor overall survival. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis implied that highly expressed SNHG16 could be used as an independent prognostic marker. It could be known from functional assays that silenced SNHG16 impaired cell proliferation, owing to the effects of SNHG16 on cell cycle and apoptosis. Finally, mechanism experiments revealed that SNHG16 could epigenetically silence the expression of p21. The facts above pointed out that lncRNA-SNHG16 might be quite vital for the diagnosis and development of bladder cancer, and could even become an important therapeutic target for bladder cancer.