Identification of long noncoding RNAs regulated by ZEB1 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer cells

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) are known to have various physiological and pathological functions. Some lncRNAs also show differential expression between cancer and normal tissues and play important roles in cancer development. In this study, we tried to identify novel lncRNAs that regulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, tumorigenesis, and metastasis of lung cancer cells. We performed an NGS-based RNA sequencing analysis in murine lung cancer cells overexpressing ZEB1, an EMT-inducing transcription factor. ZEB1 overexpression changed the expression of total 194 lncRNAs: increased 80 and decreased 114 lncRNAs (fold change≥2, p≤0.01). We then selected 32 lncRNAs with high basal levels and confirmed their differential expression by qRT-PCR. In addition, we measured their expression changes after ZEB1-knockout in mesenchymal-like cells, TGFβ-treatment in epithelial-like cells, and ZEB1-overexpression in human lung cancer cells. Through these experiments, we found several lncRNAs regulated by ZEB1 or EMT in lung cancer cells. Expressions of these lncRNAs showed correlation with that of ZEB1 in human lung adenocarcinoma TCGA data. Further investigation will unveil the effects of these lncRNAs on EMT, cancer development, and metastasis of lung cancer cells. Citation Format: Jeong Seon Kim, Young-Ho Ahn. Identification of long noncoding RNAs regulated by ZEB1 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2470.