LncRNA HOXC-AS3 Promotes Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition through Decreasing the Expression of FBXL17 in Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: The expression and biological roles of a novel lncRNA HOXC-AS3 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CESC) are largely unknown. Methods: : LncRNA HOXC-AS3 was identified from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Real time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate the expression of HOXC-AS3 in 68 pairs of CESC tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess the significance of HOXC-AS3 in predicting overall survival (OS). Correlations between HOXC-AS3 expression and clinicopathological parameters were assessed using Chi-square test. The biological functions of HOXC-AS3 in CESC were investigated using loss-of and gain-of function assays, which including cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism was revealed using bioinformatics prediction, qRT-PCR and western blot. Results: : HOXC-AS3 expression was significantly up-regulated in CESC tumor tissues. Up-regulated HOXC-AS3 expression was correlated with advanced stage and poor OS. Over-expression of HOXC-AS3 promoted tumor cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Conversely, HOXC-AS3 knockdown significantly inhibited these effects. Subcellular fractionation analysis revealed that HOXC-AS3 was mainly localized in cell nuclei. Further mechanistic analyses demonstrated that HOXC-AS3 down-regulated the expression of FBXL17. The promotive effects of HOXC-AS3 on cell proliferation, migration and invasion could be repressed by FBXL17. Moreover, HOXC-AS3 activated the EMT process to promote the progression of CESC. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study indicated that HOXC-AS3 acted as an oncogenic lncRNA in CESC through downregulating FBXL17 expression and activating EMT process.