The inhibitive effect of sh-HIF1A-AS2 on the proliferation, invasion, and pathological damage of breast cancer via targeting miR-548c-3p through regulating HIF-1α/VEGF pathway in vitro and vivo

• Published in: OncoTargets and therapy Vol. 12; pp. 825 - 834
• Main Authors: Guo, Xiao, Lee, Shenghai, Cao, Peilong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.01.2019; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Breast cancer; Cell growth; Experiments; Gastric cancer; Hypoxia; Metastasis; MicroRNAs; Original Research; Penicillin; Prostate cancer; Tumorigenesis; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Xenografts; United States > US; China; Japan; miR-548c-3p; HIF1A-AS2; breast cancer; MCF-7; HIF-1α/VEGF; oncogenesis
• ISSN: 1178-6930; 1178-6930
• DOI: 10.2147/OTT.S192377

Breast cancer (BC) has been the commonest malignant tumor with a low survival rate among woman. Long non-coding RNA hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha antisense RNA-2 (HIF1A-AS2) was correlated with various cancers. The study aimed to investigate the roles and related underlying molecular mechanisms of HIF1A-AS2 in BC. Target relationships were speculated by Targetscan 7.0 and confirmed by dual luciferase reporter assay. Proteins levels were monitored by RT-qPCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry assays. CCK-8 assay, SA-β-gal staining and transwell assay were used to detect proliferation, senescence and invasion, respectively. Xenograft nude mice were put into use to evaluate the tumor growth and motility. The present study exhibited that HIF1A-AS2 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) were upregulated while miR-548c-3p was downregulated in MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, ZR-75-1, and BT-549 BC cell lines. Bioinformatics analysis showed HIF1A-AS2 and HIF-1α were two targets of miR-548c-3p, and the target relationship was further confirmed by dual luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, knockdown of HIF1A-AS2 by shRNA (sh-HIF1A-AS2) markedly elevated miR-548c-3p level, and the enhanced miR-548c-3p noticeably suppressed cell proliferation, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and promoted senescence in vitro. In addition, overexpression of HIF-1α promoted MCF-7 cell invasion. Intriguingly, low expression of HIF1A-AS2 reduced HIF-1α level by upregulating the expression of miR-548c-3p. Furthermore, experiment in xenograft nude mice has indicated that sh-HIF1A-AS2 inhibited tumor growth and motility by targeting miR-548c-3p through regulating HIF-1α/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway in vivo. The inhibitive effect of HIF-1α/VEGF pathway by sh-HIF1A-AS2 through targeting miR-548c-3p plays crucial regulatory roles in BC. Therefore, designing targeted drugs against HIF1A-AS2 provides a new direction for the treatment of BC.