Human MALAT-1 long non-coding RNA is overexpressed in cervical cancer metastasis and promotes cell proliferation, invasion and migration.

Purpose: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play a crucial role in the development as well as the prognosis of various human cancers, particularly in human metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript-1 (MALAT-1), which has been shown to be upregulated in some tumors. However, the role of MALAT-1 in cervical cancer (CC) is yet to be elucidated. This study aimed to establish a correlation between MALAT-1 and its role in CC progression and prognosis.

Methods: The expression of MALAT-1 was examined in tissue samples of 30 CC patients and was compared with the adjacent non-cancerous tissues. The relationship between MALAT-1 levels and clinicopathological parameters from the CC patients was analyzed. Cell migration and invasion assays were performed with quantification of the expression levels of MALAT-1 in 4 CC cell lines using RT-PCR.

Results: Our results demonstrate that MALAT-1 is upregulated in CC. We found higher expression of MALAT-1 in all the 4 CC cell lines, especially in SiHa and ME-180 CC cell lines. After analysis of the relationship between MALAT-1 levels and clinicopathological parameters from CC patients, a robust correlation could be obtained between MALAT-1 overexpression with lymph node metastasis, tumor differentiation and clinical stage. Furthermore, the ectopic expression of MALAT-1 increased cell proliferation and contributed directly to invasion and migration.

Conclusion: Taken together, this study suggests an indispensible role played by MALAT-1 in CC progression, which may act as a potential prognostic indicator for CC and also could be a novel potential target for diagnosis of CC.