Long non-coding RNA (
lncRNA) associated with poor prognosis of
hepatocellular carcinoma (AWPPH) serves pivotal roles in
bladder cancer and
liver cancer; however, to the best of our knowledge, its functionality in
colon cancer has not been characterized. The present study aimed to investigate the involvement of
lncRNA AWPPH in
colon cancer. Serum levels of
lncRNA AWPPH and
glucose transporter 1 (GLUT-1) in patients with early stage
colon cancer and healthy controls were measured by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and ELISA. Correlation between
lncRNA AWPPH and GLUT-1 expression was analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient. χ2 test was performed to investigate the associations between serum levels of
lncRNA AWPPH and clinical data of patients with
colon cancer.
lncRNA AWPPH
short hairpin RNA and GLUT-1 expression vectors were transfected into
colon cancer cells, and the effects on
lncRNA AWPPH, GLUT-1 and cell proliferation were detected by RT-qPCR, western blotting and Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. It was observed that serum levels of
lncRNA AWPPH and GLUT-1 were significantly higher in patients with
colon cancer patients compared with healthy controls. Serum levels of AWPPH and GLUT-1 were significantly positively correlated in patients with
colon cancer. Serum levels of
lncRNA AWPPH were associated with the
tumor size. Furthermore, AWPPH-silencing significantly inhibited GLUT-1 expression and inhibited
cancer cell proliferation. GLUT-1 overexpression promoted
cancer cell proliferation and attenuated the inhibitory effects of AWPPH-silencing on
cancer cell proliferation. However, GLUT-1 overexpression failed to significantly affect the expression of AWPPH. Therefore, it can be concluded that a downregulation of
lncRNA AWPPH may inhibit
colon cancer cell proliferation by downregulating GLUT-1.