Long non-coding RNA metastasis associated with lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) contributes to chemotherapy resistance in some cancers, but the role of MALAT1 in sunitinib (SU) chemoresistance of carcinoma (RCC) is still unknown. In this study, MALAT1 expression in SU-resistance tumor tissues and cells was tested by qRT-PCR. Then, CCK-8, Annexin V-FITC/PI, transwell, and Western blotting assays were used to evaluate cell viability and IC50, apoptosis, cell invasion, and resistance of SU-resistance RCC cells after transfected with small interfering RNA against MALAT1. Further, RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assay were applied to investigate the underlying mechanism of MALAT1 in SU resistance. The results showed that MALAT1 expression was dramatically upregulated in SU-resistance RCC tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of MALAT1 inhibited proliferation, invasion, and SU chemoresistance, but induced apoptosis in RCC cells. The results of RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assay indicated that MALAT1 could interact with miR-362-3p and miR-362-3p interact with RasGAP SH3-domain-Binding Protein 1 (G3BP1). Moreover, G3BP1 also played a role in SU chemoresistance of RCC cells, and MALAT1 could perform as a miR-362-3p sponge to modulate G3BP1 expression. Rescue experiments suggested that downregulation of miR-362-3p and overexpression of G3BP1 can reverse the SU chemosensitivity of MALAT1 knockdown in RCC cells. In conclusion, depletion of LncRNA MALAT1 inhibited SU chemoresistance through modulating G3BP1 via sponging miR-362-3p in RCC cells, suggesting that targeting MALAT1 may be a potential therapeutic strategy for SU-resistance RCC.
Keywords: G3BP1; MALAT1; MiR-362-3p; renal cell carcinoma; sunitinib resistance.