The long noncoding RNA cancer susceptibility candidate 2 inhibits tumor progression in osteosarcoma.

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has been identified to serve a critical role in the development of various types of cancer. Cancer susceptibility candidate 2 (CASC2) is a cancer‑associated lncRNA. However, whether CASC2 regulates osteosarcoma progression remains unclear. Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blot, invasion and migration assays were used to evaluate the role of CASC2 in osteosarcoma. The present study reported that CASC2 may inhibit osteosarcoma development. Osteosarcoma tissues demonstrated reduced CASC2 expression compared with normal adjacent tissues. In addition, CASC2 transduction may decrease proliferation, migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cell lines whereas knockdown of CASC2 displayed opposing effects. Patients with low CASC2 levels were predicted to have a poor survival. In vivo implantation studies using pcDNA‑CASC2 or short interfering‑CASC2 exhibited decreased or increased tumor weight, respectively. These results suggested that CASC2 may serve as a potential tumor suppressor lncRNA in osteosarcoma and may provide potential insight into targeted intervention.