To investigate the effect of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) X-inactive specific transcript (XIST) on the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer cells and its underlying mechanism.

Totslly 42 cases of gastric cancer from Yichang Central People′s Hospital were collected from January 2018 to December 2019. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to detect the expression of XIST in tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues of gastric cancer patients, and the relationship between expression level and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed. The expression of XIST in gastric cancer cell lines was detected by qPCR, and si-XIST was used to knock down the expression of XIST in gastric cancer cells SGC-7901 and AGS, and gastric cancer cells were divided into si-XIST group and si-NC group. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was performed to detect the proliferation activity. Cell scratch test and Transwell method were used to evaluate the cell migration and invasion ability. The targeted relationship between XIST and microRNA (miRNA, miR)-335 was verified by dual luciferase assay. The comparison between groups was performed by t test.

The relative expression of XIST in gastric cancer tissues was 1.86±0.24, which was significantly higher than 0.98±0.11 in adjacent normal tissues (P<0.05). The relative expression of XIST in gastric cancer cell lines was significantly up-regulated (P<0.05). The expression of XIST in tumor tissues was significantly correlated with the TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). The proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of gastric cancer cells were significantly reduced after XIST was knocked down. Further experiments demonstrated that knockdown of XIST up-regulated the expression of miR-335.

LncRNA XIST promotes the proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells by regulating miR335 expression.

Gastric cancer; Long non-coding RNA; MicroRNA; Migration; Invasion