LncRNA TSLC1-AS1 is a novel tumor suppressor in glioma.

Growing evidence demonstrates that long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in cancer origination and progression. A novel lncRNA, TSLC1-AS1, is the antisense transcript of tumor suppressor TSLC1. The expression profile and function of TSLC1-AS1 in glioma were investigated using Real-Time Quantitative PCR and siRNA knockdown. The data showed that TSLC1-AS1 expression was down-regulated in tumor tissues compared with that in adjacent normal tissues, and negatively associated with the WHO criteria of the tumors. Overexpression of TSLC1-AS1 resulted in up-regulation of TSLC1 and significant inhibition of cell proliferation, migration and invasion in U87 cells, while knockdown of TSLC1-AS1 in SNB-19 cells showed the opposite effect. The expression of TSLC1-AS1 was also positively correlated with other tumor suppressors NF1, VHL, PIK3R1 and negatively correlated with the oncogene BRAF. The results suggested that TSLC1-AS1 was a tumor suppressor of glioma and a mediator of TSLC1 expression. LncRNA TSLC1-AS1 may serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for glioma.