LINC01303 functions as a competing endogenous RNA to regulate EZH2 expression by sponging miR-101-3p in gastric cancer

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is one of the important regulators of many malignancies. However, the biological function and clinical significance of a large number of lncRNAs in gastric cancer remain unclear. Therefore, we analysed the TCGA data to find that LINC01303 is significantly up-regulated in gastric cancer tissues. However, the biological function of LINC01303 in GC remains unknown. In our study, we found that the expression of LINC01303 was significantly higher in GC tissues than in adjacent tissues by real-time quantitative PCR. We can significantly inhibit the malignant proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells by silencing LINC01303 expression. In addition, LINC01303 knockdown can also inhibit GC growth in vivo. After the bioinformatics analysis, we found that LINC01303 can be used as a miR-101-3p sponge to competitively adsorb miR-101-3p with EZH2. Therefore, our results indicate that LINC01303 promotes the expression of EZH2 by inhibiting miR-101-3p activity and promotes GC progression. In summary, in this study, we demonstrated for the first time that the LINC01303/miR-101-3p/EZH2 axis promotes GC progression.