Abstract
With the increasing incidence and mortality rate, cervical cancer has been considered one of the most frequent malignant tumors in females. Exploration of tumor progression-related biomarkers could facilitate the identification of novel and targeted therapy strategies. To assess the significance of lncRNA AATBC (AATBC) and its potential regulatory mechanism in cervical cancer, and to identify a potential biomarker, this study enrolled 123 patients with cervical cancer. Paired tissue samples were collected. The expression levels of AATBC and miR-1245b-5p were analyzed by RT-qPCR and their significance in the development and prognosis of cervical cancer was evaluated using chi-square and Cox analyses. In vitro, the regulatory effect of AATBC on the cellular processes of cervical cancer was estimated by CCK8 and Transwell assay. The interaction between ATTBC and miR-1245b-5p was assessed by luciferase reporter assay. Significant upregulation of AATBC and reduced miR-1245b-5p level in cervical cancer were observed, which showed a negative correlation between their expression levels. Close relationships of AATBC and miR-1245b-5p with the FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis were revealed. AATBC showed a significant prognostic value and miR-1245b-5p was found to mediate the tumor inhibitory effect of AATBC knockdown, which is speculated to be the underlying molecular mechanism of AATBC in cervical cancer development. Upregulation of AATBC indicted the malignant development and adverse prognosis of cervical cancer. AATBC served as a tumor promoter of cervical cancer by modulating miR-1245b-5p.