Long Noncoding RNA TCONS_00027385 Acts as a miR-874-5p Sponge to Suppress the Progression of Prostate Cancer Through Regulating ASCC2 Expression

Abstract

Background: A novel pyrrolo indole alkaloids, named Robustanoids A, was isolated from Coffea canephora beans, and it inhibits proliferation of prostate cancer (PCa) cells. However, the molecular mechanism linking Robustanoids A to the tumorigenesis of PCa is not yet clear. Methods: We investigated the expression of lncRNAs in PCa cells with Robustanoids A and control group by microarray analysis. The expression level of TCONS_00027385 in PCa tissues and cell lines was detected by qRT-PCR. Additionally, we conducted functional experiments to investigate the biological effects of TCONS_00027385 on the development of PCa both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, bioinformatic analysis, luciferase reporter experiment, RIP assay, pulldown assay, and protein chip were performed to investigate the oncogenic molecular mechanisms of TCONS_00027385.Results: In our current study, we focused on TCONS_00027385, which was up-regulated in PCa tissues and cell lines. The high expression of TCONS_00027385 was related to the progression of PCa. Function assays revealed that silencing TCONS_00027385 inhibited PCa cell proliferation and induced apoptosis, while over-expression of TCONS_00027385 remarkably played an opposite role. A deeper investigation showed that TCONS_00027385 acted as a sponge for hsa-miR-874-5p in PCa, and ASCC2 was a target of miR-874-5p in the downstream. Moreover, a positive association between TCONS_00027385 with ASCC2 and a negative relationship between miR-874-5p and TCONS_00027385 (or ASCC2) were also founded. According to the rescue assay, inhibiting ASCC2 could partially suppress the oncogenic effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis in PCa caused by the overexpression of TCONS_00027385.Conclusion: TCONS_00027385 acted as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-874-5p to regulate the expression of ASCC2. TCONS_00027385 regulated the miR-874-5p/ASCC2 axis to promote PCa progression.