Long non-coding RNA CARLo-5 is a negative prognostic factor and exhibits tumor pro-oncogenic activity in non-small cell lung cancer

Despite recent advances in the management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the prognosis of NSCLC is still relatively poor. Thus, it is of great importance to identify novel effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of NSCLC. A growing volume of literature has demonstrated the vital roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in cancer biology. Cancer-associated region long non-coding RNA (CARLo-5), a recently identified lncRNA, was initially characterized in colon cancer. However, little is known about its role in NSCLC. In the present study, a great upregulation of CARLo-5 was observed in cancer tissues compared to their adjacent normal tissues. Meanwhile, patients with high CARLo-5 expression have significantly poorer prognosis than those with low expression. Inhibition of CARLo-5 by siRNA suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion in NSCLC cell lines in vitro. In addition, silencing of CARLo-5 reversed the epithelial–mesenchymal transition in NSCLC cell line. Our study suggests that CARLo-5 may represent a prognostic marker and a potential therapeutic target of NSCLC.