lncRNA AWPPH promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of non‑small cell lung cancer cells by activating the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway.

AWPPH is a newly discovered long non‑coding (lnc)RNA that serves an oncogenic role in the development of several types of cancer; however, its involvement in non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unknown. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the function of AWPPH in NSCLC. The results demonstrated that AWPPH expression levels were significantly upregulated in the lung tissues and serum samples of patients with NSCLC compared with in healthy controls. High expression levels of AWPPH effectively distinguished NSCLC patients from healthy controls. In addition, patients with high expression levels of AWPPH had significantly shorter survival time. AWPPH overexpression in NSCLC cells promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis, and activated the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway, which is a classic signaling pathway involved in the development and progression of different types of cancers. Treatment with a Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway activator produced no significant effect on AWPPH expression. Therefore, it was concluded that lcRNA AWPPH could promote the growth of NSCLCs by activating the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway.