Long noncoding RNA LINC00337 promote gastric cancer proliferation through repressing p21 mediated by EZH2.

Gastric cancer is one of the most common human malignancies. Some long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has been validated to be oncogene in gastric cancer. In this research, we found that LINC00337 was up-regulated in the gastric cancer cells and tissue specimens. Clinically, the ectopic LINC00337 overexpression indicates the poor clinical outcome. The functional experiments illustrated that LINC00337 silencing repressed the proliferation, invasion and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. The mechanical experiments showed that LINC00337 epigenetically repressed the p21 via EZH2-mediated inhibition. Overall, this finding suggests that LINC00337 acts as the oncogene to promote gastric cancer cells proliferation through epigenetically repressing p21 mediated by EZH2, providing a new insight for gastric cancer.