Papillary thyroid carcinoma susceptibility candidate 3 (PTCSC3) is a newly identified
non-coding RNA, which is highly thyroid-specific. Dramatic downregulation in
thyroid cancers suggests its potential roles in the occurrence and development of thyroid
tumors. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of PTCSC3 on the biological features of
thyroid cancer cells and to explore its possible function as a
competing endogenous RNA to bind with
miRNAs. Constructs containing the
long non-coding RNA, PTCSC3, were transfected into various
thyroid cancer cell lines (BCPAP, FTC133 and 8505C). Cell growth, cell cycle transition and apoptosis were measured by MTT assay and flow cytometry. In silico analysis was performed to identify the binding site of PTCSC3 for target
miRNAs. Additionally, detection of putative
miRNA by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in
thyroid cancer cells transfected with PTCSC3 was determined to confirm the interaction. Following transfection with PTCSC3, all three
thyroid cancer cells originating from various pathological types of
thyroid cancers demonstrated significant growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest and increased apoptosis. The top 20
miRNAs to have a potential interaction with PTCSC3 were identified, out of which miR-574-5p was selected to further confirm the inverse correlation with PTCSC3 in
thyroid cancer cells in vitro. In the present study, PTCSC3 as a
tumor suppressor was investigated as a
competing endogenous RNA for miR-574-5p.