Knockdown of lncRNA SNHG7 inhibited cell proliferation and migration in bladder cancer through activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

It is identified that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in tumorigenesis. LncRNA SNHG7 has been found to be an oncogene in varieties of tumors including bladder cancer. However, its potential regulatory mechanism in bladder cancer still remains unknown. In this study, we discovered that the expression levels of SNHG7 were significantly increased in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. Patients with high expression level of SNHG7 suffered from poor prognosis. Additionally, knockdown of SNHG7 induced declined cell viability, proliferation as well as G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, we found that cell migratory ability was markedly reduced after silencing SNHG7. Next, we verified that knockdown of SNHG7 reduced the protein level of β-catenin and thus decreased the level of its downstream targets including c-myc, cyclin D1 and E-cadherin, implying that SNHG7 might impact bladder cancer via Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Subsequently, the rescue assays performed in SNHG7 silenced T24 cells by using activator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling elucidated that re-activation of this pathway partly restored the inhibitory effects of SNHG7 suppression on biological behaviors of T24 cells. Collectively, SNHG7 elicited carcinogenic functions in bladder cancer partially via activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, suggesting a potential target for the treatment and prognosis of bladder cancer.