Long non-coding RNA HOXB-AS1 promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of glioblastoma cells via HOXB-AS1/miR-885-3p/HOXB2 axis

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proven to play important roles in carcinogenesis and development of numerous cancers, but their biological functions in glioblastoma remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that HOXB-AS1 was highly expressed in human glioblastoma tissues and cell lines, and was associated with survival time of patients. Further analysis showed that knock-down of HOXB-AS1 inhibited cell proliferation via inducing S phase cell cycle arrest and suppressed migration and invasion ability of cells. Mechanism study revealed that HOXB-AS1 is mainly located in cytoplasm and functions as competing endogenous RNA via sponging of miR-885-3p. Moreover, inhibition of miR-885-3p antagonized the effects of HOXB-AS1 knock-down and promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of glioblastoma cells. Finally, we found that sponging of miR-885-3p by HOXB-AS1 could further affect the expression of HOXB2. Taken together, we demonstrate that HOXB-AS1/miR-885-3p/HOXB2 axis regulates proliferation, migration and invasion of glioblastoma cells and can serve as a potential biomarker for the malignancy.