Expression of BANCR promotes papillary thyroid cancer by targeting thyroid stimulating hormone receptor.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common form of non-medullary thyroid cancer, accounting for ~80% of all cases of thyroid cancer. The aim of the present study was to explore the role of BRAF-activated long noncoding RNA (BANCR) in the development of PTC. Using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), the mRNA expression levels of BANCR, thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) and cyclin D1 between PTC and benign control thyroid nodule tissue samples from 60 patients were determined. Using RT-qPCR and western blot analysis, the expression levels of TSHR and cyclin D1 mRNA and protein were determined in cells transfected with BANCR-small interfering (si)RNA. An MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to analyze the effect of BANCR knockdown on the proliferation and cell cycle distribution of IHH-4 PTC cells. The expression of BANCR, TSHR and cyclin D1 was increased in the PTC group compared with the control group based on the RT-qPCR data. The transfection of IHH-4 cells with BANCR-siRNA induced the inhibition of TSHR and cyclin D1 expression compared with a transfection control. In addition, the proliferation of the IHH-4 cells transfected with BANCR-siRNA was suppressed, relative to the transfection control, and cells arrested in the G0/G1 phase, potentially due to the inhibition of the expression of cyclin D1. The data suggested that the expression of BANCR may promote the development of malignant thyroid nodules via the modulation of TSHR expression and its downstream effector, cyclin D1.