Abstract:  Objective  To investigate the effects of lncRNA SNHG20 and miR-520f-3p on the proliferation, migration and invasion of cholangiocarcinoma cells and the potential mechanisms. Methods The tumor tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues of 20 patients with cholangiocarcinoma who were surgically resected in the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University from March 2012 to March 2014 were collected. The si-SNHG20, miR-520f-3p mimics and miR-520f-3p inhibitor and their corresponding control plasmids were transfected into cholangiocarcinoma cells CCLP-1 by liposome transfection technology, respectively,  to construct overexpression and silence cell models. The qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression levels of SNHG20 and miR-520f-3p in cholangiocarcinoma tissues and corresponding normal tissues as well as cholangiocarcinoma cells CCLP-1, QBC939, RBE, TFK-1 and normal bile duct epithelial cells HIBEC. The cell proliferation ability was detected by CCK-8 assay. The cell migration and invasion ability were detected by wound healing and Transwell assay, respectively. The targeting relationship between SNHG20 and miR-520f-3p was verified by the dual luciferase reporter gene experiment. Results Compared with the adjacent tissues and normal bile duct epithelial cells HIBEC, the expressions of SNHG20 in CCLP-1, QBC939, RBE, TFK-1 of cholangiocarcinoma cells were significantly higher (P<0.05), while the expressions of miR-520f-3p were decreased (P<0.05). Compared with si-NC group, the proliferation, migration and invasion of CCLP-1 cells were decreased after SNHG20 knockdown (P<0.05). SNHG20 could target and regulate the expression of miR-520f-3p, and the knockdown of miR-520f-3p could reverse the inhibitory effect of down-regulated SNHG20 on the proliferation and invasion of CCLP-1 cells (t=10.533, P=0.002; t=8.683, P=0.037). Conclusions SNHG20 can target miR-520f-3p to regulate the proliferation and invasion of cholangiocarcinoma cells.

Key words: Cholangiocarcinoma, Long non-coding RNA, SNHG20, miR-520f-3p, Proliferation, Migration, Invasion