Objective  To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA LINC02178 in bladder cancer and its effects on the proliferation, invasion and migration of bladder cancer cells.

Methods  The expression level of LINC02178 in bladder cancer tissues was analyzed based on the public database. The expression of LINC02178 in bladder cancer cells was detected by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Si-LINC02178 and si-NC fragments were transfected into J82 cells, and the changes of proliferation, invasion and migration of the expression of LINC02178 after silencing were detected by Methyl Thiazolyl Tetrazolium (MTT) and Transwell methods. The protein expression levels of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), phosphorylated PI3K(p-PI3K), protein kinase B(Akt), phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt) protein were detected by Western blot.

Results  LINC02178 was highly expressed in bladder cancer tissues, and the survival prognosis of patients with high expression was worse compared with those with low expression (P < 0.05). The expression of LINC02178 in bladder cancer cell lines J82, T24 and 5637 was significantly higher than that in normal bladder epithelial cells (P < 0.05). The cell proliferation ability of the si-LINC02178 group was lower than that of the si-NC group (P < 0.05). The number of cells invaded in the si-LINC02178 group and si-NC group was (91.33±2.02) and (179.30±4.26), and the number of cells migrated was (98.33±3.84) and (196.30±2.73), respectively, which showed statistically significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). After silencing LINC02178, the expression of p-PI3K and p-Akt protein in cells was down-regulated, while PI3K and Akt had no significant changes (P>0.05).

Conclusion  LINC02178 expression is associated with poor prognosis of patients with bladder cancer. Silencing LINC02178 expression can inhibit the proliferation, invasion and migration of bladder cancer cells, which may be regulated by the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.