LncRNA HOXC-AS3 Suppresses the Formation of Mature miR-96 in Ovarian Cancer Cells to Promote Cell Proliferation.

HOXC-AS3 has been reported to be an oncogenic lncRNA in several types of cancer, while its role in ovarian cancer (OC) is unknown. This study aimed to explore the involvement of HOXC-AS3 in OC. The expression levels of HOXC-AS3, mature miR-96, and miR-96 precursor (premature miR-96) in OC and paired non-tumor tissues from 62 OC patients were determined by RT-qPCR. Correlations were analyzed by linear regression. The expression levels of mature miR-96 and miR-96 precursor in OC cells with the overexpression of HOXC-AS3 were determined by RT-qPCR. The roles of HOXC-AS3 and mature miR-96 in regulating the proliferation of OC cells were explored by CCK-8 assay. HOXC-AS3 was upregulated in OC, while mature miR-96 and miR-96 precursor were downregulated in OC. In OC tissues, HOXC-AS3 was inversely correlated with mature miR-96, but not miR-96 precursor. In OC cells, overexpression of HOXC-AS3 reduced the expression levels of mature miR-96, but not miR-96 precursor. Cell proliferation analysis showed that overexpression of HOXC-AS3 resulted in increased cell proliferation, while overexpression of miR-96 suppressed cell proliferation. In addition, overexpression of HOXC-AS3 attenuated the effects of overexpression of miR-96. HOXC-AS3 suppresses the formation of mature miR-96 in OC cells to promote cell proliferation.