Abstract 1809: LncRNA-SOX2-OT contributes to head and neck cancer cell proliferation by regulating DDIT4

Abstract Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to serve as an oncogenic role in human cancers. However, the role of lncRNAs in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is still unclear. Methods and Results: Our previous microarray analysis showed that lncRNA SOX2-OT was upregulated in HNSCC tumor tissues and was correlated with DDIT4. To determine whether SOX2-OT served as a poor prognosis factor and targeted DDIT4 to facilitate cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in human HNSCC, qRT-PCR tested the relative expression of SOX2-OT and DDIT4 in 60 pairs of LSCC cancer tissues and the corresponding adjacent non-cancer tissues. Cell functional assay was conducted in vitro. We validated the up-regulation of SOX2-OT and DDIT4 in HNSCC tissues. Furthermore, we found that high SOX2-OT expression was significantly associated with advanced tumor differentiation, and worse prognosis. In vitro experiments demonstrated that SOX2-OT functioned as an oncogene by promoting cell proliferation and inhibiting cell apoptosis, and SOX2-OT targeted DDIT4 as its competing endogenous RNA in HNSCC cells. Conclusions: Our findings for the first time identify the oncogenic role of SOX2-OT in HNSCC, demonstrating that SOX2-OT is a potential prognostic biomarker and promising therapeutic target in HNSCC. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Ru Wang, Yifan Yang, Chen Tan, Ling Feng, Jugao Fang. LncRNA-SOX2-OT contributes to head and neck cancer cell proliferation by regulating DDIT4 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1809.