Mechanism of LncRNA-HULC in Affecting the Biological Characteristics of Liver Cancer Cells by Targeting the miR-597/Rab23 Molecular Axis
WANG Xinao, DAI Yang, LIU Junrui, DONG Qinpeng, LIU Jiaming, WU Yuhao, LI Hengping*
The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanism by which LncRNA (long non-coding RNA)-HULC (highly up-regulated in liver cancer) affects the biological characteristics of HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) cells by targeting miR-597 (microRNA-597)/Rab23 (Ras related protein 23) molecular axis. A total of 76 patients with HCC who were admitted to the First People’s Hospital of Xiangyang, Hubei University of Medicine as the study subjects. QRT-PCR was applied to detect the expression levels of LncRNA-HULC, miR-597, and Rab23 in HCC patient tissues, and the expression of the aforementioned genes was analyzed for their clinical correlation with liver cancer. Bioinformatics methods and dual luciferase reporter experiments were applied to analyze the interaction mechanisms of LncRNA-HULC, miR-597, and Rab23 signaling axes. HepG2 HCC cells were studied and separated into si-NC group, si-HULC group, si-HULC+anti-NC group, and si-HULC+anti-miR-597 group. CCK8, Transwell assay, and flow cytometry were applied to detect the proliferation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of HepG2 cells in each group. Western blot was applied to detect the expression of Ki67, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, and Rab23 proteins in HepG2 cells. The expression of LncRNA-HULC and Rab23 in HCC tissue was higher than that in adjacent tissues, while the expression of miR-597 was lower than that in adjacent tissues (P<0.05), and their expression was correlated with clinical and pathological features such as TNM stage and differentiation degree of patients (P<0.05). LncRNAHULC targeted and negatively regulated miR-597, while miR-597 targeted and negatively regulated Rab23. The LncRNA-HULC, Rab23 mRNA, proliferation rate, migration number, invasion number, and the expression levels of Ki67 protein and Rab23 protein in the si-HULC group were lower than those in the si-NC group, and the miR-597, apoptosis rate, and the expression levels of Caspase-3 protein and Caspase-9 protein were higher than those in the si-NC group (P<0.05). Compared with the si-HULC group and si-HULC+anti-NC group, the miR-597 mRNA, apoptosis rate, and the expression levels of Caspase-3 protein and Caspase-9 protein in the si-HULC+anti-miR-597 group were lower (P<0.05), the Rab23 mRNA, proliferation rate, migration number, invasion number, and the expression levels of Ki67 protein and Rab23 protein were higher (P<0.05). In summary, silencing LncRNA-HULC may inhibit the biology of liver cancer cells, which may be achieved by targeting the miR-597/Rab23 molecular axis.
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