lncRNA MIAT targets miR-411-5p/STAT3/PD-L1 axis mediating hepatocellular carcinoma immune response

Emerging evidences have shown that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in the immune escape of cancer cells. Our previous study has demonstrated that lncRNA MIAT is associated with the immune infiltration of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the underlying mechanism of MIAT regulating the PD-L1-mediated immune escape of HCC is poorly understood. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of MIAT and PD-L1 mRNA in HCC. The relationship between MIAT, miR-411-5p, STAT3 and PD-L1 was explored by dual-luciferase reporter assay, cytotoxicity assay, Western blot and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP). In addition, the xenograft model was established to determine the effect of MIAT on PD-L1 expression in vivo. We found that MIAT and PD-L1 were significantly upregulated in HCC tissues and the expression of PD-L1 was regulated by MIAT. The knockdown of MIAT enhanced the cytotoxicity of T cells on HCC cells. MIAT negatively regulated miR-411-5p expression, upregulated STAT3 and ultimately increased PD-L1 expression from the transcription level. The inhibition of miR-411-5p reversed STAT3 and PD-L1 expression inhibited by MIAT knockdown in HCC cells. This study suggests a novel lncRNA-mediated mechanism for HCC cells to evade the immune response; MIAT/miR-411-5p/STAT3/PD-L1 may be a novel therapeutic target for HCC.