Long noncoding RNA LINC00460 aggravates invasion and metastasis by targeting miR-30a-3p/Rap1A in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Accumulating studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in cancer occurrence and development. Recently a new lncRNA LINC00460 has been reported to be upregulated in several types of cancers. In this study, we investigated the role of LINC00460 in invasion and metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In NPC cell lines named C666-1 and 5-8F, LINC00460 overexpression promoted cancer cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), while depletion of LINC00460 exhibited opposite effects. We further demonstrated that LINC00460 regulated Rap1A expression through competitively binding to miR-30a-3p. LINC00460 knockdown suppressed NPC metastasis in a xenograft mouse model. Taken together, our findings suggested LINC00460 functioned as an oncogene in NPC which promoted invasion and metastasis, shedding lights on LINC00460 as a potential therapeutic target for NPC therapeutics from bench to clinic.