A novel lncRNA AC112721.1 promotes the progress of triple-negative breast cancer by directly binding to THBS1 and regulating the miR-491-5p/C2CD2L axis

Abstract Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) seriously threatens women's health, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as critical regulators of gene expression and play fundamental roles in TNBC. This study aims to explore lncRNAs that can provide effective targets for the early diagnosis or treatment of TNBC. Here, we utilized the TCGA database to analyze differentially expressed genes, survival analysis and ROC curve analysis were also carried out. Notably, we identified a novel lncRNA, AC112721.1, which was significantly overexpressed in TNBC and associated with poor overall survival of TNBC patients. The loss and gain-of functional experiments revealed that AC112721.1 significantly promoted cells proliferation, migration, and suppressed cell apoptosis in vitro and inhibited tumorigenesis in vivo. Further study of underlying mechanisms demonstrated that AC112721.1 regulated the Ras pathway by directly binding to THBS1 protein and also functioned as ceRNA by sponging miR-491-5p to increase the expression of C2CD2L, thereby influencing the progression of TNBC. Taken together, our study indicated that AC112721.1 might be a new biomarker for the evaluation of TNBC prognosis and the treatment of TNBC.