LncRNA HIF1A-AS2 positively affects the progression and EMT formation of colorectal cancer through regulating miR-129-5p and DNMT3A

LncRNAs were a group of RNAs, which can be a regulator or master in biological activities of cancer cells. HIF1A-AS2 belongs to this group, and it has been verified to be able to affect cell activities in several kinds of cancers. In this study, we tried to study the functions of HIF1A-AS2 exerted in colorectal cancer. In order to clearly know about the expression of HIF1A-AS2, miR-129-5p and DNMT3A in CRC tissues and cells, we employed qRT-PCR. The relevance among those three genes was examined by the use of Pearson correlation analysis. With the aid of bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase reporter assays, the combinations between them were verified one by one MTT, colony formation trans-well and western blotting, immunofluorescence, all those assays reflected a fact that as a ceRNA, HIF1A-AS2 could directly bind with miR-129-5p, and could positively affect cell proliferation, invasion and EMT formation by regulation of the expression of miR-129-5p and DNMT3A. Therefore, we obtained a conclusion that HIF1A-AS2 exerted the oncogenic functions in CRC through regulating miR-129-5p/DNMT3A axis, which indicates that HIF1A-AS2 might be a useful therapeutic target in CRC.