LncRNA-p21 inhibited the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells via the miR-130b/PTEN/AKT signaling pathway.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents. However, the molecular mechanism underlying OS development is unclear. Here, we investigated the contribution of lncRNA-p21, a novel long non-coding RNA, on OS cell proliferation. Our results demonstrated that the expression of lncRNA-p21 was repressed in OS tissue. Growth curves and the cell colony formation assay showed that lncRNA-p21 significantly inhibited the proliferation of OS cell lines. In addition, the expression of lncRNA-p21 increased the protein levels of proliferation markers, such as Ki-67 and cyclin D1. Subsequently, lncRNA-p21 overexpression up-regulated the protein level of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN), a well-known inhibitor of AKT signaling. Moreover, our gain and loss function assay showed that the promotion of PTEN by lncRNA-p21 was mediated by miR-130b, an oncogene overexpressed in OS tissue. Our findings may provide a novel lncRNA-targeted therapy for patients with OS.