SLC16A1-AS1 enhances radiosensitivity and represses cell proliferation and invasion by regulating the miR-301b-3p/CHD5 axis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a common type of human malignancies, leads to increasing incidence and fairly high mortality. An increasing number of studies have verified that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) played key roles in the development of multiple human cancers. As a biomarker, SLC16A1-AS1 has been reported in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Thus, we decided to investigate whether SLC16A1-AS1 exerts its biological function in HCC. In this study, we discovered that SLC16A1-AS1 was obviously downregulated in HCC tissues and cells. Overexpression of SLC16A1-AS1 inhibited HCC cell proliferation, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process as well as promoted cell apoptosis. Moreover, SLC16A1-AS1 was confirmed to enhance the radiosensitivity of HCC cells. Molecular mechanism exploration suggested that SLC16A1-AS1 served as a sponge for miR-301b-3p and CHD5 was the downstream target gene of miR-301b-3p in HCC cells. Rescue assays implied that CHD5 knockdown could recover the effects of SLC16A1-AS1 overexpression on HCC cellular processes. In brief, our study clarified that SLC16A1-AS1 acted as a tumor suppressor in HCC by targeting the miR-301b-3p/CHD5 axis, which may be a promising diagnostic biomarker and provide promising treatment for HCC patients.