Expression of long non-coding RNA PANDAR and its prognostic value in colorectal cancer patients

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key molecules in human cancer. In the present study, we explored the role of the lncRNA PANDAR in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods The relative expression level of lncRNA PANDAR in CRC tissues and cell lines was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The associations between PANDAR expression and clinicopathological features of CRC patients were further analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to evaluate the value of PANDAR in the prognosis of CRC patients. Furthermore, the biological function of PANDAR on CRC cell growth, apoptosis and mobility was investigated through MTT, flow cytometry, transwell migration and invasion assays in vitro. Results The expression level of PANDAR was higher in CRC tissues and cells compared with adjacent nontumor tissues and normal colonic cell line NCM460. PANDAR expression was significantly correlated with local invasion, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with high PANDAR expression had poorer overall survival than patients with low PANDAR expression. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that PANDAR might be an independent prognostic factor for CRC patients. Furthermore, PANDAR knockdown significantly inhibited cell proliferation, cycle progression, migration and invasion of CRC in vitro. Conclusions Our results suggest that high expression of PANDAR was involved in CRC progression and could act as an independent biomarker for prognosis of CRC patients.