N-BLR, a primate-specific non-coding transcript leads to colorectal cancer invasion and migration.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Non-coding RNAs have been drawing increasing attention in recent years as functional data suggest that they play important roles in key cellular processes. N-BLR is a primate-specific long non-coding RNA that modulates the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, facilitates cell migration, and increases colorectal cancer invasion. RESULTS:We performed multivariate analyses of data from two independent cohorts of colorectal cancer patients and show that the abundance of N-BLR is associated with tumor stage, invasion potential, and overall patient survival. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments we found that N-BLR facilitates migration primarily via crosstalk with E-cadherin and ZEB1. We showed that this crosstalk is mediated by a pyknon, a short ~20 nucleotide-long DNA motif con

SUBMITTER: Rigoutsos I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5442648 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature