lncRNA DGCR5 acts as a tumor suppressor in papillary thyroid carcinoma via sequestering miR-2861.

A vast amount of evidence indicates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in cancer. Previous studies have indicated that lncRNA DiGeorge syndrome critical region gene 5 (DGCR5) is aberrantly expressed in lung cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the role of DGCR5 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has remained elusive. In the present study, it was revealed that DGCR5 was significantly downregulated in PTC tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues. Through functional experiments, it was demonstrated that ectopic overexpression of DGCR5 markedly suppressed PTC cell growth and invasion. A bioinformatics analysis suggested that DGCR5 binds to microRNA (miR)-2861. A total of 5 putative binding sites for miR-2861 were identified in DGCR5, and a luciferase reporter assay confirmed the direct interaction between DGCR5 and miR-2861. Furthermore, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that ectopic overexpression of DGCR5 led to a decreased expression of miR-2861 in PTC cells and miR-2861 mimic transfection caused a downregulation of DGCR5. miR-2861 level was upregulated in PTC tissues compared with adjacent tissues and negatively correlated with DGCR5 level. In addition, rescue experiments indicated that ectopic expression of miR-2861 reversed the effects of DGCR5 overexpression on PTC cell proliferation and invasion. Taken together, the present results demonstrated that DGCR5 inhibits PTC progression via sponging miR-2861, indicating DGCR5 may serve as a therapeutic target.