Long intergenic noncoding RNA LINC01287 drives the progression of cervical cancer via regulating miR-513a-5p/SERP1

Cervical cancer is one of the most frequent types of cancer in women, which is characterized by high invasion and metastatic tendency in its advanced stage. Emerging evidence indicated that long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) are involved in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. LINC01287 has been reported to play crucial regulatory roles in the pathogenesis and progression of multiple cancers. However, up until now, whether LINC01287 is associated with the initiation and development of cervical cancer remains largely unknown. In the present study, expression levels of LINC01287, miR-513a-5p and stress-associated endoplasmic reticulum protein 1 (SERP1) mRNA were quantified utilizing qRT-PCR. A series of functional experiments including CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, transwell assay, flow cytometry, and tumor xenograft growth of cervical cancer cells were performed for studying the effects of LINC01287. The luciferase reporter assay, pull-down assay, and western blot were used to confirm the downstream targets of LINC01287 and miR-513a-5p. The results demonstrate that LINC01287 was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissue samples and cell lines. High LINC01287 predicts a poor prognosis for cervical cancer patients. Additional gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that silencing LINC01287 inhibited cervical cancer cells proliferation, colony formation, migration, apoptosis in vitro and retarded tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Furthermore, the dual-luciferase reporter gene system and RNA pulldown assay validated that LINC01287 positively regulated SERP1 expressions by sponging miR-513a-5p, and LINC01287 inhibited cervical cancer progression by regulating miR-513a-5p/SERP1 axis. In conclusion, the current study first identified that LINC01287/miR-513a-5p/SERP1 axis played an important role in cervical cancer progression. LINC01287 might be a prognostic biomarker and a target for new therapies in patients with cervical cancer.