LINC00342 induces metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma by targeting miR-15b/TPBG

In this study, the function and regulation of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) LINC00342 in lung adenocarcinoma were investigated. From The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets, LINC00342 was found to be up-regulated in lung adenocarcinoma. The high expression of LINC00342 was also validated in lung cancer cell lines. LINC00342 induced invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of A549 cells. By analyzing GEO datasets, TPBG was confirmed positively correlated to LINC00342 and highly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma. In addition, TPBG induced invasion and EMT process of A549 cells. Through bioinformatics analysis and luciferase assay, miR-15b was validated as a direct target of both LINC00342 and TPBG. Ectopic miR-15 expression repressed LINC00342 and TPBG. Interestingly, LINC00342 overexpression inhibited miR-15b and induced TPBG, whereas ectopic TPBG unchanged LINC00342 and miR-15b levels. In conclusion, LINC00342 promotes metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma through inducing TPBG targeted by miR-15b.