MALAT-1 enhances cell motility of lung adenocarcinoma cells by influencing the expression of motility-related genes

MALAT-1, a long non-coding RNA, is associated with metastasis, but its role in the metastatic process remains unknown. Here, we show that short-interfering RNA-mediated MALAT-1 silencing impaired in vitro cell motility of lung cancer cells and influenced the expression of numerous genes. In these genes, knockdown of any one of CTHRC1, CCT4, HMMR, or ROD1 clearly inhibited cell migration. In MALAT-1 knockdown cells, pre-mRNA levels were decreased in some but not all genes. Thus, our findings suggest that MALAT-1 is a novel class of non-coding RNA that promotes cell motility through transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of motility related gene expression.