Knockdown of lncRNA TP73-AS1 inhibits gastric cancer cell proliferation and invasion via the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) function as tumor suppressors or oncogenes in tumor development and progression. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance and functional role of lncRNA TP73-AS1 in gastric cancer (GC). Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated that TP73-AS1 was significantly upregulated in GC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. The higher expression of TP73-AS1 was closely associated with lymph node metastasis and tumor-node-metastasis stage in patients with GC. Those patients with GC showing a higher expression of TP73-AS1 were predicted to have shorter disease-free survival and overall survival rates. The knockdown of TP73-AS1 was shown to markedly inhibit cell proliferation, cell colony formation and cell invasion. In addition, the downregulation of TP73-AS1 suppressed the expression of transcription factor 4 and β-catenin, which suggested that a decrease in TP73-AS1 suppressed the WNT/β-catenin signaling pathway in GC. Therefore, these results indicated that TP73-AS1 may be a target for GC treatment.