Long non-coding RNA HOXA11-AS functions as a competing endogenous RNA to regulate ROCK1 expression by sponging miR-124-3p in osteosarcoma.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been strongly associated with various types of cancer. this study was to explore the critical role of lncRNA HOXA11-AS in osteosarcoma (OS) progression. Briefly, we should that the expression of HOXA11-AS was upregulated in OS tissues and cell lines. The high expression of HOXA11-AS was associated with advanced clinical stage, distant metastasis and poor overall survival of OS. In addition, We found that HOXA11-AS silencing suppressed OS cells proliferation, invasion and induced cell arrest in G0/G1 phase. Furthermore, our data showed that HOXA11-AS acts as an endogenous sponge by directly binding miR-124-3p, and decreasing the expression of miR-124-3p. Moreover, we found that HOXA11-AS may regulate tumor progression by affecting miR-124-3p targets, and ROCK1 expression. To conclude, our study helps to elucidate the effectiveness of HOXA11-AS promotion on OS cell proliferation and metastasis. A better understanding of interaction mechanism between HOXA11-AS-miR-124-3p-ROCK1 signaling axis may be a step forward in the development of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of OS.