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Zhihao Yang,1,2,* Erbao Bian,1,2,* Yadi Xu,1,2 Xinghu Ji,1,2 Feng Tang,1,2 Chunchun Ma,1,2 Hongliang Wang,1,2 Bing Zhao1,2 1Department of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230601, People’s Republic of China; 2Cerebral Vascular Disease Research Center, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230601, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bing ZhaoDepartment of Neurosurgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 678 Fu Rong Road, Hefei, Anhui Province 230601, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 551 63869502Fax +86 551 63869400Email aydzhb@126.comBackground: Glioma is one of the most common malignant tumors. Glioblastoma (grade IV) is considered the most malignant form of human brain tumors. Maternal expression gene 3 (Meg3) encodes a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) that plays an important role in the development and progression of cancer. However, the role of Meg3 in glioma cells remains largely unclear.Methods: Reverse transcription-quantitative (RT-q) PCR was conducted to evaluate the mRNA expression related to cell autophagy and EMT while protein expression was detected by Western blotting. Staining of acidic vacuoles and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect autophagy. The ability of cells to migrate and invade was detected by Transwell migration and invasion assays.Results: In the present study, it was found that the overexpression of Meg3 induced EMT, migration and invasion of glioma cells, whereas Meg3 overexpression induced autophagy of glioma cells. More importantly, the inhibition of autophagy impaired the EMT of glioma cells. In addition, Meg3-induced EMT, migration and invasion could be partially reversed by autophagy inhibitors, chloroquine (CQ) and Lys05, in glioma cells.Conclusion: All data suggest that Meg3 induces EMT and invasion of glioma cells via autophagy. Overall, the findings of the present study demonstrate the importance of Meg3 in the molecular etiology of glioma, which also indicate its potential applications in the treatment of glioma.Keywords: long non-coding RNA, Meg3, EMT, invasion, autophagy, glioma