Abstract
Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) AWPPH has been revealed to serve pivotal roles in bladder cancer and liver cancer. The aim of the present study was to determine the involvement of lncRNA AWPPH in glioma. It was observed in the present study that the expression levels of AWPPH in plasma were significantly higher in patients with metastatic glioma compared with those in patients with non-metastatic glioma and healthy controls. In effect, overexpression of AWPPH allowed the differentiation of patients with metastatic glioma from patients with non-metastatic glioma and in healthy controls. Increased migration and invasion rates of glioma cells and upregulated hypoxia-inducible factor 1-α (HIF1α) expression were observed following AWPPH overexpression. HIF1α overexpression exhibited no significant effects on AWPPH expression but also promoted the migration and invasion of cancer cells. HIF1α small interfering RNA silencing attenuated the enhancing effects of AWPPH overexpression on the migration and invasion of glioma cells. From the results of the present study it was concluded that AWPPH may promote glioma metastasis by serving as an upstream activator of HIF1α.