Silencing of HOTAIR Induced Apoptosis in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells through Up-regulation of Bax and Down-regulation of Bcl2

HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR), as a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is a highly cited transcript modulating variety of signaling pathways such as cell growth and apoptosis. Altered expression of HOTAIR has been reported in human cancers, which contributes with cancer progression and metastasis. Increased expression level of HOTAIR has been observed in colorectal cancer (CRC). It seems that dysregulation of HOTAIR may inhibit the apoptosis. The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of HOTAIR silencing on expression of apoptosis markers Bax and Bcl2 using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The data showed that HOTAIR and Bcl2 are highly expressed in CRC cells while the expression level of Bax is low. Following siRNA treatment, Blc2 was downregulated but Bcl2 was upregulated. These findings suggest that HOTAIR silencing can promote apoptosis, and thus it can be considered as a promising strategy to kill cancer cells.