Long Non-Coding RNA NEAT1 Serves as Sponge for miR-365a-3p to Promote Gastric Cancer Progression via Regulating ABCC4

Introduction: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) was reported to be a crucial regulator in cancer. In this work, our purpose is to explore the biological roles of nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) in gastric cancer (GC). Methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect NEAT1 expression in GC cells and normal cells. GC cell behaviors after NEAT1 overexpression or downregulation were analyzed by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, colony formation assay, wound-healing assay, and flow cytometry assay. Bioinformatic tools were used to analyze the significance of NEAT1 in GC. The involvement of microRNA-365a-3p (miR-365a-3p) and ATP-binding cassette subfamily C member 4 (ABCC4) in the biological roles of NEAT1 in GC progression was validated by luciferase activity reporter assay and rescue experiments. Results: We found NEAT1 increased expression in both GC tissues and cells and correlated with poorer overall survival of cancer patients. We found NEAT1 overexpression promotes, while its knockdown inhibits GC cell proliferation, colony formation, invasion, and cell cycle progression in vitro. Mechanism analyses showed that NEAT1 serves as a ceRNA to upregulate ABCC4 expression via sponging miR-365a-3p. Conclusion: In this study, we revealed a NEAT1/miR-365a-3p/ABCC4 triplet in GC progression, which may provide novel targeted therapy markers for GC.