Expression of long non-coding RNA CCAT 2 has a predictive value for patient survival and tumor metastasis in gastric cancer

Objective: To explore the predictive value of CCAT2 expression for patients survival and tumor metastasis in Gastric Cancer (GC). Methods: In this study, we measured the levels of CCAT2 mRNA expression in gastric cancer tissue samples by RT-qPCR assay. The correlation among CCAT2 levels, pathological types, and survivals of GC patients were also explored using the Kaplan-Meier method. We also researched the effects of CCAT2 on GC cell migration/invasion and the molecular mechanisms were also explored primarily. At the same time, the predictive value of CCAT2 on metastasis of GC was detected by ROC curve. Results: The levels of CCAT2 expression in gastric cancer patients are higher than the normal ones (P<0.01). Thus, the CCAT2 silencing inhibited the cell migration and invasion in three gastric cancer cell lines (P<0.01). After that, the result of test for the predictive value showed that the levels of CCAT2 expression have an effective value (P<0.05). Conclusion: Level of CCAT2 expression is higher in GC patients and overexpression of CCAT2 promotes gastric cancer cell migration and invasion by regulating the MMPs and key EMT markers. In addition, the level has a predictive value on the diagnosis of GC metastasis.