Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of Lnc- DQ in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） and its role in regulating of the stemness characteristics of SMMC7721 cells. Methods The expression of Lnc- DQ was determined by real- time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction（RT-qPCR）in HCC samples and cell lines. Cells were infected with negative control short hairpin RNAs（sh- NC）or specific shRNAs targeting Lnc- DQ （sh- Lnc- DQ）to generate stable Lnc- DQ knockdown cell lines. Colon formation ，anchorage- independent sphere formation and flow cytometry assays were used to analyze the effects of Lnc- DQ knockdown on the cancer stem- like phenotype of SMMC7721 cells. Results LncDQ was up-regulated in both HCC tissue samples and cell lines. shRNA transfection could significantly reduced the expression of Lnc-DQ in HCC cells. For colon formation assay，the colony number was 43.62±5.35 in sh-Lnc-DQ group，and was significantly lower than 94.31±5.07 in sh- NC group（P<0.05）. The mammosphere number in sh- Lnc- DQ group was small and lower than in sh- NC group（P<0.05）. The proportion of CD133 positive was 2.32% ± 0.25% in sh- Lnc- DQ group and 9.24% ± 0.69% in sh- NC group（P<0.05）. Conclusion LncDQ was up- regulated in HCC and play an important role in the regulating of the stemness related characteristics of SMMC7721 cells.

Key words: long noncoding RNA Lnc-DQ, hepatocellular carcinoma, stemness characteristics

摘要： 目的 检测长链非编码RNALnc-DQ在肝癌组织中的表达，探讨其对肝癌SMMC7721细胞干性特征的影响。方法 采用实时定量反转录聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）检测Lnc-DQ在30例肝癌组织和癌旁组织中的表达；shRNA干扰下调Lnc-DQ在SMMC7721细胞中的表达，克隆形成和成球培养实验观察其对SMMC7721肿瘤干细胞特征的影响；流式细胞仪检测CD133+细胞亚群的比例。结果 Lnc-DQ在肝癌组织中的相对表达显著高于癌旁组织（3.24±0.34 vs 1.81±0.17），差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）。shRNA转染可显著下调Lnc-DQ在SMMC7721细胞中的表达（P<0.05）。实验组细胞（sh-Lnc-DQ）克隆形成数为43.62±5.35，较对照组（sh-NC）显著减少（94.31±5.07），差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）。成球培养实验显示sh-Lnc-DQ可显著抑制SMMC7721细胞的成球能力（P<0.05）。实验组细胞CD133+细胞比例显著低于对照组织（2.32%±0.25% vs 9.24%±0.69%），差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）。结论 Lnc-DQ在肝癌中高表达，下调Lnc-DQ的表达能够抑制肝癌SMMC7721细胞的干性功能。

关键词: 长链非编码 RNA, Lnc-DQ, 肝癌, 干性特征