LncRNA CCND2-AS1 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

In decades, a lot of long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been proven to exert influences on tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Many lncRNAs have been reported as effective therapeutic targets and biomarkers in various cancers. However, whether LncRNAs are associated with the progression of PTC remains largely unknown. In this study, we measured the expression of CCND2-AS1 in PTC cell lines by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).We found that CCND2-AS1 expression was significantly over-expressed in PTC cell lines compared to normal thyroid epithelial cells. Gain-and loss-of-function experiments were performed to investigate the role of CCND2-AS1 in PTC cells. In vitro experiments, we proved that CCND2-AS1 knockdown in TPC1 significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while CCND2-AS1 overexpression in BCPAP had the opposite effects. Meanwhile, we also found that CCND2-AS1 could regulate N-cadherin and Vimentin expression, which may influence invasion and migration. Our findings indicate that the lncRNA CCND2-AS1 is a gene associated with PTC and might become a potential therapeutic target.