LncRNA FOXP4-AS1 Is Involved in Cervical Cancer Progression via Regulating miR-136-5p/CBX4 Axis

Introduction: Cervical cancer (CC) is a major health threat to women worldwide. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has been reported to play crucial roles in regulating carcinogenesis, including CC. Methods: In this work, levels of lncRNA forkhead box P4 antisense RNA 1 (FOXP4-AS1) in CC cell lines and normal cell lines were analyzed with quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) method. Effects of FOXP4-AS1 on CC cellular behaviors including proliferation, migration, and invasion were explored. Bioinformatic prediction tools and luciferase activity reporter assay were conducted to explore the downstream molecules for FOXP4-AS1. Results: We found FOXP4-AS1 expression was significantly higher in CC cell lines than in normal cell line. Functionally, force FOXP4-AS1 expression increased CC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while FOXP4-AS1 knockdown caused opposite effects. Mechanistically, we found FOXP4-AS1 acts as competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for microRNA-136-5p (miR-136-5p) to regulate chromobox 4 (CBX4) expression. Discussion: These findings indicated FOXP4-AS1 plays an oncogenic role in CC, which may provide novel therapeutic biomarker against CC.