Long non-coding RNA MALAT 1 promotes the proliferation and metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer through the ERK / MAPK pathway

Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), is associated with proliferation and metastasis of lung cancer, being an independent prognostic factor of this disease. Previous study has demonstrated that MALAT1 played an important role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the physiological and biochemical mechanisms were still unclear. In this study, we performed the study focused on the expression, biological functions and mechanism of MALAT1 in NSCLC and found that MALAT1 was significantly up-regulated in NSCLC tissues compared with corresponding non-cancerous tissues. Knockout of MALAT1 in NSCLC cell lines using lentivirus-mediated RNA interference significantly inhibited the proliferation and metastasis of the NSCLC cells. Importantly, ERK/MAPK pathway was found to be inactivated in the NSCLC cell lines after MALAT1 knockout experiment. These results indicated that MALAT1 maybe serve as an oncogenic lncRNA that promoted proliferation and metastasis of NSCLC and activated the ERK/MAPK pathway.