Up-regulation of long non-coding RNA LOXL1-AS1 functions as an oncogene in cervical squamous cell carcinoma by sponging miR-21

Abstract

LncRNA LOXL1-AS1 has been reported to be upregulated in several types of cancer and plays oncogenic roles. We analysed TCGA dataset and observed the downregulation of LOXL1-AS1 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). We therefore analysed the roles of LOXL1-AS1 in CSCC. We observed that LOXL1-AS1 was downregulated in CSCC. LOXL1-AS1 was predicted to interact with miR-21, while overexpression experiments showed that LOXL1-AS1 and miR-21 had no significant effects on the expression of each other. However, LOXL1-AS1 overexpression led to the upregulation of RHOB, a direct target of miR-21. Cell invasion and migration analysis showed decreased invasion and migration rates of CSCC cells after LOXL1-AS1 and RHOB overexpression. MiR-21 played an opposite role at reduced the effects of LOXL1-AS1 and RHOB overexpression. Therefore, LOXL1-AS1 may promote CSCC cell invasion and migration by sponging miR-21 to upregulate RHOB.

Keywords:

• LOXL1-AS1
• cervical squamous cell carcinoma
• miR-21
• RHOB

Availability of data and materials

The analysed data sets generated during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Maternity and Child Care Centre of Liuzhou. The research has been carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. All patients and healthy volunteers provided written informed consent prior to their inclusion within the study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Authors contributions

HB, XL, SW made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; gave final approval of the version to be published; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).