Nasopharyngeal Cancer

HEIH[LncRNA]

miR-193a-5p[miRNA]

CDK8[mRNA]

NPC tissues and cells

Homo sapiens (human)

Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2021 Jan;25(2):770-778. doi: 10.26355/eurrev_202101_24638.

Long non-coding RNA HEIH modulates CDK8 expression by inhibiting miR-193a-5p to accelerate nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression.

Dual-luciferase reporter assay;Western blot;Luciferase reporter assay;

OBJECTIVE: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the commonest malignant tumor. In this article, we aimed to examine the molecular role of lncRNA HEIH in the progression of NPC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We assessed the expression of HEIH, miR-193a-5p and CDK8 in NPC tissues and cells by real-time PCR. The cell proliferation, invasion and migration of SUNE-1 cells were examined by CCK-8 and transwell assay. Western blot assay was adopted to measure the protein expression level of CDK8. Dual-Luciferase reporter assay was adopted to evaluate the correlation between HEIH, miR-193a-5p and CDK8. RESULTS: We discovered that HEIH was high expressed and miR-193a-5p was reduced in both NPC tissues and cells. The upregulation of HEIH facilitated cell proliferation, migration and invasion of SUNE-1 cells. In addition, overexpression of miR-193a-5p restrained cell progression of SUNE-1 cells. Moreover, HEIH was proved to be a molecular sponge of miR-193a-5p in NPC. Besides that, CDK8 was found to be a direct target gene of miR-193a-5p in NPC. Furthermore, CDK8 knockdown suppressed cell progression of SUNE-1 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrated that HEIH overexpression promoted cell progression by sponging miR-193a-5p and upregulating CDK8.