The long non-coding RNA maternally expressed gene 3 activates p53 and is downregulated in esophageal squamous cell cancer

Esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) is an aggressive malignancy with poor survival. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in tumorigenesis and cancer progression; hence, lncRNAs are also involved in the development and progression of ESCC. In this study, we used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to investigate expression of lncRNA, maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) in ESCC. Ectopic expression of MEG3 was performed in ESCC cell lines. Proliferation and apoptosis of ESCC cell lines were analyzed after ectopic expression of MEG3. We found MEG3 was significantly downregulated in ESCC tissues compared with normal tissues by qRT-PCR. Low expression of MEG3 was correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced TNM stages of ESCC patients and indicated shorter survival (HR = 0.471, 95 % CI 0.234–0.950, P = 0.035), which was confirmed by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) esophageal cancer dataset. DNA-demethylating agent (5-aza-2-deoxy-cytidine (5-aza-CdR)) treatment significantly increased MEG3 expression level in ESCC cells, and TCGA esophageal cancer dataset also showed that DNA methylation of MEG3 predicted survival. Ectopic expression of MEG3 in ESCC cells inhibited cell proliferation, promoted apoptosis, and suppressed metastasis. Further investigation showed enforced expression of MEG3 activated p53 and its target genes by downregulation of mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2). Overall, our study indicated that MEG3 expression loss is common in ESCC and MEG3 could activate p53 and predict prognosis in ESCC.