Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a significant impact on human health. The aim of this study was to explore the role of long non-coding RNA DLX6-AS1  in the proliferation, migration, and invasion of NSCLC cells.
Methods: The expression of DLX6-AS1  in NSCLC tumor tissues and cell lines was examined by qRT-PCR. The effects of DLX6-AS1  knockdown on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were assessed by Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing, and transwell assays, respectively. Bioinformatics analyses, luciferase reporter assays, and RNA pull-down assays were employed to examine the mechanism by which DLX6-AS1  exerted its oncogenesis effects in NSCLC. The anti-tumor effect of silencing DLX6-AS1  in vivo was also evaluated.
Results: DLX6-AS1  was over-expressed in NSCLC tumor tissues and cell lines and its level of expression was found to be associated with tumor size and advanced clinical stage in patients with NSCLC. Downregulation of DLX6-AS1  inhibited cell proliferation, cell clone formation, migration, and invasion of NSCLC cells. DLX6-AS1  was found to interact with miR-27b-3p/GSPT1 . DLX6-AS1  expression was negatively correlated with miR-27b-3p  expression, but positively correlated with GSPT1 expression in NSCLC samples. DLX6-AS1  knockdown also effectively suppressed tumor growth in an in vivo xenograft model.
Conclusion: DLX6-AS1  regulated NSCLC progression by targeting the miR-27b-3p/GSPT1  axis, which may provide novel insights for NSCLC prognosis and therapy.
Keywords: DLX6-AS1 , NSCLC, miR-27b-3p , GSPT1, invasion