TY - JOUR AB - Cervical carcinoma expressed PCNA regulatory long non‑coding (lnc)RNA (CCEPR) has recently been reported to play oncogenic roles in some common types of human cancer. However, the clinical significance of CCEPR mRNA expression levels in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the exact function of CCEPR in regulating the malignant phenotypes of ESCC cells have not been previously investigated. In the present study, CCEPR mRNA expression level was upregulated in ESCC tissues and cell lines, and overexpression of CCEPR was associated with advanced TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis in ESCC. In vitro experiments showed that silencing CCEPR mRNA expression levels significantly suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCC cells, while inducing ESCC cell apoptosis. Furthermore, inhibition of CCEPR decreased the protein expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)2 and MMP9 and inhibited epithelial‑mesenchymal transition in ESCC cells. In conclusion, the results showed that CCEPR plays an oncogenic role in ESCC and suggests that CCEPR could be used as a potential therapeutic target for ESCC treatment. AD - Department of Oncology, First People's Hospital of Chenzhou City, Chenzhou, Hunan 423000, P.R. China Department of Neonatology, First People's Hospital of Chenzhou City, Chenzhou, Hunan 423000, P.R. China Department of Invasive Technology, Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan College, Chenzhou, Hunan 423000, P.R. China Department of Oncology, Second People's Hospital of Chenzhou City, Chenzhou, Hunan 423000, P.R. China AU - Wang,Xiaojun AU - Zhou,Liangfen AU - Zhang,Huiyun AU - Ou,Hui AU - Long,Wenxing AU - Liu,Xiaobao DA - 2020/11/01 DO - 10.3892/ol.2020.12006 IS - 5 JO - Oncol Lett KW - esophageal squamous cell carcinoma long non‑coding RNA cervical carcinoma expressed PCNA regulatory long non‑coding RNA prognosis PY - 2020 SN - 1792-1074 1792-1082 SP - 142 ST - Upregulation of cervical carcinoma expressed PCNA regulatory long non‑coding RNA promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression T2 - Oncology Letters TI - Upregulation of cervical carcinoma expressed PCNA regulatory long non‑coding RNA promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2020.12006 VL - 20 ER -