Long non-coding RNA BCYRN1 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of cervical cancer via targeting microRNA-138 inï¿½vitro and inï¿½vivo
Authors: Jun Feng
Fang Hou
Shui-Xian Xu
Jie Peng
Xiao-Yan Meng
Journal: Oncology Letters (2018)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: brain cytoplasmic RNA 1; cervical cancer; invasion; miRNA-138; proliferation.
Affiliations: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wuzhong People's Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215128, P.R. China.

Abstract:  Cervical cancer is one of the most malignant types of tumor and the fourth leading cause of cancer-associated mortality in females worldwide. High expression of brain cytoplasmic RNA 1 (BCYRN1) has been detected in various tumors. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of BCYRN1 in the viability and motility of cervical cancer, and the relevant mechanism. The results demonstrated that BCYRN1 was upregulated in cervical cancer tissues compared with normal tissues. Elevated levels of BCYRN1 were also detected in three human cervical cancer cell lines (SiHa, HeLa and CaSki) compared with non-cancerous ectocervical epithelial cell line (Ect1/E6E7). The expression of BCYRN1 was suppressed following transfection with small interfering RNA (siRNA) in HeLa cells. The silence of BCYRN1 significantly reduced cell viability and motility. Furthermore, microRNA (miR)-138 was predicted as a direct target of BCYRN1 and the expression of miR-138 was elevated in HeLa cells transfected with BCYRN1 siRNA. Subsequently, elevated levels of miR-138 were suppressed by transfection with miR-138 inhibitor in HeLa cells pretreated with BCYRN1 siRNA. The targeting association between BCYRN1 and miR-138 was supported by luciferase reporter assays. Additionally, BCYRN1 siRNA partially counteracted the effect of miR-138 inhibitor on promoting cell viability and mobility in HeLa cells. Finally, the in vivo experiment verified that BCYRN1 siRNA was able to prevent tumor growth, and reduced the expression of migration marker proteins metalloproteinase 2 and vascular endothelial cell growth factor, with enhanced expression levels of miR-138. These results suggest that lncRNA BCYRN1 promotes the proliferation and invasion of cervical cancer via targeting miR-138. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 The article reads very well, but it is doubtful whether any truly novel insights are provided within the text. We would like to highlight the following shortcomings in particular: The authors describe what is essentially the captivity effect (a well-documented phenomenon) but fail to mention it specifically by name. The articleu2019s title would lead one to believe that it is about tool use evolution more generally, and yet the actual text is quite imbalanced: the literature on bird tool use is much more strongly represented, while the review of non-human primates, especially apes, is quite surface-level. The authors state that the Aesopu2019s fable task needs to be tested on apes. A similar task u2013 though not 100 per cent the same u2013 is the floating object task, studies on which have been performed with apes already prior to the publication of this review. These would have warranted inclusion and comparison. Although we do not disagree with the conclusions of the authors, the nuances of learning and tool use have already been championed by other researchers. ,