LncRNA MINCR activates Wnt/β-catenin signals to promote cell proliferation and migration in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common type of malignant oral cancer with high recurrence. MYC-induced long non-coding RNA (MINCR) has been reported as a tumor suppressor in liver cancer and lung cancer. Whereas, it is unknown whether MINCR exerted function in OSCC progression. This study focused on its function and mechanism in OSCC. At first, the expression level of MINCR in OSCC tissues and cell lines as well as corresponding normal controls was evaluated by qRT-PCR assay. The relative high level of MINCR was observed in OSCC tissues and cell lines. The overall survival rate of OSCC patients with high or low level of MINCR was analyzed by using Kaplan-Meier method. In addition, functional assay revealed that MINCR knockdown significantly suppressed OSCC cell proliferation and invasion. Importantly, the effect of MINCR knockdown on Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was detected by luciferase reporter and western blot assays. It was found that MINCR knockdown obviously decreased the activity of Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Rescue assays were further used to validate the role of Wnt/β-catenin pathway in MINCR-mediated OSCC progression. The effects of MINCR knockdown on OSCC cell proliferation and migration were partly reversed by the activator of Wnt/β-catenin pathway (LiCl). Overall, our findings revealed that MINCR may be an oncogene in OSCC via modulation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway.