Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Anhui No.2 Provincial People's Hospital, Hefei, China.
J Recept Signal Transduct Res. 2021 Dec;41(6):582-592. doi: 10.1080/10799893.2020.1836495. Epub 2020 Oct 20.
Cervical cancer (CC) ranks the fourth among female malignancies and has become a dominating cause for tumor-associated death nowadays. More and more documents have proposed that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which emerge as pivotal biomarkers, actively participate in the regulation of human carcinomas. LncRNA ROR1-AS1 is a recently identified RNA that is highlighted for its crucial role in the biological processes of cancers. However, the role and molecular mechanism of ROR1-AS1 in CC have not been clarified yet.
In the current study, RT-qPCR analysis uncovered that ROR1-AS1 expression was evidently upregulated in CC tissues and cell lines. Functional experiments (CCK-8, EdU, TUNEL, wound healing and Transwell assays as well as western blot analysis) revealed that knockdown of ROR1-AS1 markedly suppressed the malignant phenotypes of CC cells decreasing cell viability, proliferation, migration, invasion and autography, and facilitating cell apoptosis. Subsequently, by performing luciferase reporter and RNA pulldown assays, miR-670-3p was identified to be sponged by ROR1-AS1. Additionally, STC2 was disclosed to be targeted by miR-670-3p in CC cells. Rescue assays illuminated that upregulation of STC2 counteracted ROR1-AS1 knockdown-induced suppression on CC cell growth.
These data suggested that ROR1-AS1 contributed to the malignant properties of CC cells through sponging miR-670-3p and upregulating of STC2.
宫颈癌（CC）在女性恶性肿瘤中排名第四，现已成为肿瘤相关死亡的主要原因。越来越多的文献提出，长链非编码 RNA（lncRNA）作为关键的生物标志物，积极参与人类癌的调控。LncRNA ROR1-AS1 是一种新鉴定的 RNA，因其在癌症的生物学过程中起着至关重要的作用而受到关注。然而，ROR1-AS1 在 CC 中的作用和分子机制尚不清楚。
在本研究中，通过 RT-qPCR 分析发现 ROR1-AS1 在 CC 组织和细胞系中表达明显上调。功能实验（CCK-8、EdU、TUNEL、划痕愈合和 Transwell 分析以及 Western blot 分析）表明，ROR1-AS1 的敲低显著抑制了 CC 细胞的恶性表型，降低了细胞活力、增殖、迁移、侵袭和自噬，并促进了细胞凋亡。随后，通过荧光素酶报告和 RNA 下拉实验，鉴定出 miR-670-3p 是 ROR1-AS1 的海绵体。此外，在 CC 细胞中发现 STC2 是 miR-670-3p 的靶标。挽救实验表明，STC2 的上调抵消了 ROR1-AS1 敲低诱导的对 CC 细胞生长的抑制作用。
这些数据表明，ROR1-AS1 通过海绵 miR-670-3p 和上调 STC2 促进 CC 细胞的恶性特性。
