ABSTRACT
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in China, which seriously threatens the life of patients. Nowadays, more and more studies have confirmed the role of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) in the development and progression of cancer. Aims: To investigate the molecular mechanism of FEZF1-AS1 regulates the biological behavior of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting miR-1254. Methods: qRT-PCR was used to detect the expressions of FEZF1-AS1 and miR-1254 in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue and cells. Hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3B cells were randomly divided into NC group, si-Lnc FEZF1-AS1 group, si-con group, miR-1254 group, miR-con group, si-Lnc FEZF1-AS1+anti-miR-con group, si-Lnc FEZF1-AS1+anti-miR-1254 group. The cell viability was detected by MTT assay, apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, the cell migration and invasion ability were detected by Transwell assay, the dual luciferase reporter gene assay was used to verify the targeted regulatory relationship between FEZF1-AS1 and miR-1254, Western blotting was used to detect the expressions of related proteins. Results: The expression of FEZF1-AS1 was significantly increased whereas the expression of miR-1254 was significantly decreased in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue and cells than those in corresponding adjacent tissue and normal cells. Transfection of si-Lnc FEZF1-AS1 or miR-1254 mimics significantly inhibited the expressions of Ki-67, N-cadherin and Vimentin in Hep3B cells, promoted the expressions of cleaved caspase-3 and E-cadherin, inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion ability, inhibited the occurrence of EMT and promoted cell apoptosis. FEZF1-AS1 negatively regulated miR-1254 expression. Transfection of si-Lnc FEZF1-AS1 inhibited activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Transfection of anti-miR-1254 reversed the effect of si-Lnc FEZF1-AS1 transfection on Hep3B cell proliferation, migration, invasion, EMT, apoptosis and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Conclusions: The expression of LncRNA FEZF1-AS1 is up-regulated in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Silencing LncRNA FEZF1-AS1 inhibits proliferation, migration, invasion, EMT, promotes apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting miR-1254, and its mechanism is correlated to inhibition of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway activation.