Propofol suppresses hypoxia-induced esophageal cancer cell migration, invasion, and EMT through regulating lncRNA TMPO-AS1/miR-498 axis

Background: Propofol has been reported to be related to the migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of esophageal cancer (EC) cells. However, the detailed mechanism has not yet been fully reported. The purpose of this research was to elucidate the function of long non-coding RNA TMPO antisense RNA 1 (lncRNA TMPO-AS1) and microRNA-498 (miR-498) in propofol-regulated EC.

Methods: Transwell assay was performed to assess cell migratory and invasive abilities. Western blot assay was employed to determine the levels of EMT markers and hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1α). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was carried out to detect the levels of TMPO-AS1 and miR-498. Moreover, the interaction between TMPO-AS1 and miR-498 was predicted by starBase, and then confirmed by the dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay.

Results: Propofol suppressed hypoxia-induced EC cell migration, invasion, and EMT. Both TMPO-AS1 overexpression and miR-498 knockdown weakened the effect of propofol on hypoxia-induced EC cell progression. Interestingly, TMPO-AS1 targeted miR-498 and suppressed miR-498 expression. TMPO-AS1 regulated EC cell progression via downregulating miR-498 expression.

Conclusions: Collectively, our findings demonstrated that propofol inhibited hypoxia-induced EC cell mobility through modulation of the TMPO-AS1/miR-498 axis, providing a theoretical basis for the treatment of EC.

Keywords: Esophageal cancer; TMPO-AS1; hypoxia; miR-498; propofol.