LOXL1-AS1 communicating with TIAR modulates vasculogenic mimicry in glioma via regulation of the miR-374b-5p/MMP14 axis.

At present, growing evidence indicates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in the progression of glioma. The function of LOXL1-AS1 in vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in glioma remains unclear. First, the expressions of TIAR, the lncRNA LOXL1-AS1, miR-374b-5p and MMP14 were examined by qRT-PCR and Western blot in both, glioma tissues and glioma cell lines. Proliferation, migration, invasion and tube formation assays were conducted to evaluate the roles of TIAR, LOXL1-AS1, miR-374b-5p and MMP14 in malignant cellular behaviours in glioma cells. A nude mouse xenograft model and dual staining for CD34 and PAS were used to assess whether VM was affected by TIAR, LOXL1-AS1 or miR-374b-5p in vivo. In this study, low levels of TIAR and high levels of LOXL1-AS1 were found in glioma cells and tissues. TIAR downregulated the expression of LOXL1-AS1 by destabilizing it. LOXL1-AS1 acted like a miRNA sponge towards miR-374b-5p so that downregulation of the former greatly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion and VM. Additionally, miR-374b-5p overexpression repressed malignant biological behaviours and VM in glioma by modifying MMP14. In summary, we demonstrated that TIAR combined with LOXL1-AS1 modulates VM in glioma via the miR-374b-5p/MMP14 axis, revealing novel targets for glioma therapy.