Long non-coding RNA HOXB-AS1 promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of glioblastoma cells via HOXB-AS1/miR-885-3p/HOXB2 axis.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proved to play important roles in carcinogenesis and development of numerous cancers, but their biological functions in glioblastoma remain largely unknown. In this study, we found HOXB-AS1 was highly expressed in human glioblastoma tissues and cell lines, and was associated with survival time of patients. Our results showed HOXB-AS1 knockdown inhibited proliferation via inducing S phase cell cycle arrest, and suppressed migration ability of cells. In terms of mechanism, HOXB-AS1 were mainly located in cytoplasm and functioned as ceRNA via sponging of miR-885-3p. We proved inhibition of miR-885-3p antagonized the effects of HOXB-AS1 konckdown and promoted the proliferation and migration of glioblastoma. Finally, we found the sponging of miR-885-3p by HOXB-AS1 could further affecting the expression of HOXB2. Taken together, we demonstrated that HOXB-AS1/miR-885-3p/HOXB2 axis could regulate the proliferation and migration of glioblastoma, which could serve as a potential biomarker for glioblastoma patients.