Hu Fen, Zheng Hongmin, Wei Wei, Yang Chao, Yao Yang, Liu Bei and Sun Zhihua* Pages 4630 - 4640 ( 11 )
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most deadly cancer types worldwide, and its incidence is high in China. Multiple long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been recently identified as crucial oncogenic factors or tumor suppressors. In this study, we explored the effects of LncRNA RHPN1 antisense RNA 1 (RHPN1-AS1) on the progression of HCC.
Methods: Expression levels of RHPN1-AS1 and miR-596 in HCC samples were measured by qRT-PCR. The association between pathological indexes and the expression level of RHPN1-AS1 was also analyzed. Human HCC cell lines Huh7 and SMMC-7721 were used as cell models. CCK-8 and colony formation assays were performed to assess the effect of RHPN1-AS1 on HCC cell line proliferation. The flow cytometer instrument was used to study the effect of RHPN1-AS1 on apoptosis of HCC cells. The transwell assay was conducted to detect the effect of RHPN1-AS1 on migration and invasion. Furthermore, luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm targeting of miR-596 by RHPN1-AS1. Additionally, the regulatory function of RHPN1-AS1 on insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2) was detected by western blot. Results: The expression level of RHPN1-AS1 in HCC samples was observed to significantly increase compared with normal tissues and its high expression was correlated with unfavorable pathological indexes. Highly expressed RHPN1-AS1 was associated with shorter overall survival time. RHPN1-AS1 overexpression remarkably accelerated proliferation and metastasis of HCC cells, while reduced apoptosis. Accordingly, RHPN1-AS1 knockdown suppressed the malignant phenotypes of HCC cells. RHPN1-AS1 overexpression significantly reduced miR-596 expression by sponging it, but enhanced IGF2BP2 expression. Conclusion: RHPN1-AS1 acts as a sponge of tumor suppressor miR-596 in HCC that can indirectly enhance the IGF2BP2 expression and function as an oncogenic lncRNA.RHPN1-AS1, miR-596, IGF2BP2, HCC, oncogenic lncRNA, CCK-8.
Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei, Department of Orthopaedics, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei, Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei, Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei, Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei, Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei, Department of Oncology, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441000, Hubei