LncRNA AWPPH promotes the growth of triple-negative breast cancer by up-regulating frizzled homolog 7 (FZD7)

Abstract

Background: LncRNA AWPPH is a recently identified critical player in the development of several types of human malignancies, our study aimed to investigate the role of AWPPH in triple-negative breast cancer. Methods: In the present study, expression of AWPPH in tumor tissues and adjacent healthy tissues of patients with triple-negative breast cancer as well as in plasma of both patients and healthy people was detected by qRT-PCR. Application potentials of AWPPH in the diagnosis and prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer were evaluated by ROC curve analysis and survival curve analysis, respectively. AWPPH expression vectors and frizzled homolog 7 (FZD7) siRNAs were transfected into cells of human breast cancer cell lines. Expression of FZD7 was detected by Western blot, and cell proliferation was detected using CCK-8 kit. Results: We observed that AWPPH was significantly up-regulated in tumor tissues than in paired adjacent healthy tissues of patients. Plasma levels of AWPPH were higher in patients than in controls. AWPPH overexpression promoted cancer cell proliferation and up-regulated FZD7 expression. FZD7 siRNA silencing inhibited cancer cell proliferation but did not significantly affect AWPPH expression. Compared with cells with AWPPH overexpression alone, cells with both FZD7 siRNA silencing and AWPPH overexpression showed significantly reduced proliferation ability. Conclusions: We conclude that LncRNA AWPPH may promote the growth of triple-negative breast cancer by up-regulating FZD7.