Effects of lncRNA MALAT1 and lncRNA NKILA on proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of retinoblastoma
Authors: X-Y Xu
Y-X Gao
H-X Gao
F-K Ding
Journal: European review for medical and pharmacological sciences (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: LncRNA NKILA; MALAT1; retinoblastoma; apoptosis; cell growth
Affiliations: Department of Ophthalmology, Rizhao AIER EYE Hospital, Rizhao, P.R. China. .

Abstract:  Objective: To assess the expression of LncRNA NKILA and MALAT1 in retinoblastoma and its related mechanisms. Patients and methods: Tixty-eight cases of retinoblastoma patients admitted to our hospital from February 2017 to February 2019 were collected as a research group, while 70 healthy people who came to our hospital for checkup at the same time were chosen as a control group. Both retinoblastoma and human colorectal mucosa cells were purchased, expression and clinical value of NKILA and MALAT1 in serum of Rb patients were tested, and sh-NKILA, si-NKILA, NC, sh-MALAT1 and si-MALAT1 were transfected into Weri-Rb1 and Y79 cells. qRT-PCR was adopted to detect the NKILA and MALAT1 levels in samples, and WB was adopted to detect the cle-caspase-3, cle-caspase-9, Bax, Cyclin B1, CDC2 and p-CDC2 protein levels in cells. Cell proliferation was conducted via MTT assay, invasion was carried out through transwell assay, and apoptosis was confirmed by flow cytometry assay. Results: NKILA and MALAT1 were low expressed in retinoblastoma, and AUC of LncRNA NKILA and MALAT1 was over 0.8. LncRNA NKILA and MALAT1 were associated with tumor size, classification and clinical grading in children with retinoblastoma. Over-expression of NKILA and MALAT1 could promote apoptosis, inhibit cell growth and Bcl-2 protein, and promote upregulation of the expression levels of clecaspase-3, clecaspase-9 and Bax. Conclusions: By regulating MALAT1 and NKILA, we controlled the growth and apoptosis of Rb cells, which was expected to be a potential clinical therapeutic target for Rb. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 The Abstract specifies  [s]ixty-eight cases of retinoblastoma patients and 70 healthy controls. The text mentions  30 cases of Rb children and an unspecified number of healthy controls. The number of tick marks in the ROC curves of Figs 1C,D imply that there were 70 cases in all. -------------------------------------------------------------  Exclusion criteria were as follows: those comorbid with liver cirrhosis and coagulation dysfunction; those with incomplete general clinical data and **did not cooperate with follow-up**; those with expected survival time less than 1 month; those lost to be **followed up** . Follow-up for what? After providing blood samples, the patients play no further role in this study. -----------------------------------------------------------------  This study has been reported to the clinical trial management department of the clinical Trial Institution and approved by the Clinical Trial Ethics Committee... The nominal authors are spread across four institutions: Rizhao AIER EYE Hospital, Rizhao; Liaocheng Peopleu2019s Hospital, Liaocheng; Zhangqiu District Peopleu2019s Hospital, Jinan; and Jining No. 1 Peopleu2019s Hospital, Jining. If **they** don t know the specific source of data-collection and of ethics approval, readers can be forgiven for wondering if  the clinical Trial Institution and  the Clinical Trial Ethics Committee were place-holders in a template that someone forgot to fill in. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------  ...and patients all have signed an informed consent form in advance. Even the ones younger than 2? ![file] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fig 1.  C, AUC of NKILA was 0.8069. D, AUC of MALAT1 was 0.8059. ![file]  Data 3 ?  Data 4 ? Readers can be forgiven for wondering if these labels were place-holders in a template that someone forgot to update after deciding on the nc-RNAs and the cancer that the paper would address. ,