Introduction: LncRNA mortal obligate RNA transcript (MORT) is downregulated in different types of cancer, indicating its involvement in cancer biology.
Methods: In this study, MORT and miRNA-16 were both downregulated in plasma of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) patients than that in the controls. The low levels of MORT and miRNA-16 were correlated with poor survival of MCL patients. The expression of MORT and miRNA-16 was positively correlated only in MCL patients.
Results: Overexpression of MORT and miRNA-16 suppressed cell proliferation but promoted cancer cell apoptosis, while miRNA-16 inhibitor reduced the effects of MORT overexpression. Overexpression of MORT led to upregulated expression of miRNA-16, while overexpression of miRNA-16 had no effect on the expression of MORT.
Conclusion: Therefore, MORT may inhibit cancer cell proliferation and promote apoptosis in mantle cell lymphoma by upregulating miRNA-16.
Keywords: mantle cell lymphoma, MORT, miRNA-16, prognosis, cancer cell