Comprehensive analysis and experimental verification of LINC01314 as a tumor suppressor in hepatoblastoma

Hepatoblastoma (HB), as a common pediatric liver malignancy, is composed of a variety of subgroups with different clinical outcomes. Long-noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has crucial roles in cancer biology. However, the association between lncRNA and HB has not been fully investigated. In this study, we screened lncRNA expression profiles that were annotated from the GSE75271 dataset. A total of 225 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs) were identified based on comparison between three prognostic subgroups, and seven of them (XR_241302, XR_923061, NR_038322, XR_951687, XR_934593, NR_120317 and XR_93406) that exhibited highly predictive accuracies were selected for functional analysis. Weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was employed to predict the biological functions of the seven DELs. The Hippo-YAP signaling pathway was predicted to be the most statistically significant predicted pathway associated with the seven DELs. Furthermore, we performed in vitro experiments to validate the biological function of one DEL, NR_120317 (LINC01314). Our results showed decreased proliferation and migration activities of HB cells overexpressing LINC01314. Moreover, mechanistic investigations revealed that LINC01314 overexpression inhibited nuclear translocation of YAP, by inducing MST1 expression and promoting phosphorylation of LATS1 and YAP, consequently downregulating the expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins (MCM7 and cyclin D1). Taken together, our findings provide evidence for LINC01314 as a potential biomarker and anti-cancer therapeutic target in patients with HB.