Silencing long non-coding RNA linc00689 suppresses the growth and invasion of osteosarcoma cells by targeting miR-129-5p/NUSAP1.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to play a critical role in the progression and metastasis of osteosarcoma. Recently, long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 689 (linc00689) has been shown to be involved in glioma. However, the precise role of linc00689 in osteosarcoma is unknown. In this study, our data demonstrated that silencing linc00689 by siRNA markedly suppressed the proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of MG63 and SAOS-2 cells. Bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay revealed that linc00689 could bind to miR-129-5p. Moreover, NUSAP1 was a target of miR-129-5p and positively regulated by linc00689. Further, NUSAP1 overexpression enhanced MG63 cell behaviour and abolished the inhibitory effects of linc00689 knockdown on the proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT of MG63 cells. In conclusion, linc00689 exerts an oncogenic role in the progression of osteosarcoma, which works via the miR-129-5p/NUSAP1 axis.