Long non-coding RNA DLX6-AS1 aggravates hepatocellular carcinoma carcinogenesis by modulating miR-203a/MMP-2 pathway.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been wildly verified to modulate multiple tumorigenesis, especially hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In present study, our team aims to investigate the role of lncRNA DLX6-AS1 in the HCC carcinogenesis. Results of early-stage experiments found that DLX6-AS1 expression level was up-regulated in 60 cases of HCC tissue samples compared with adjacent normal tissue. Moreover, the aberrant overexpression of DLX6-AS1 indicated the poor prognosis of HCC patients. Loss-of-function experiments revealed that DLX6-AS1 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells in vitro, and decreased the tumor growth in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that miR-203a potentially targeted DLX6-AS1 3'-UTR, suggesting the interaction between miR-203a and DLX6-AS1. Furthermore, miR-203a also targeted MMP-2 mRNA 3'-UTR, which was validated by luciferase reporter assay. Taken together, our study discovered the oncogenic role of DLX6-AS1 in clinical specimens and cellular experiments, showing the potential DLX6-AS1/miR-203a/MMP-2 pathway. This results and findings provide a novel insight for HCC tumorigenesis.