Abstract
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of gene expression by acting as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs). However, the roles of lncRNA-associated ceRNAs in oncogenesis are not fully understood. The present study aims to determine whether a ceRNA network can serve as a prognostic marker in human prostate cancer (PCa). In order to identify a ceRNA network and the key lncRNAs in PCa, we constructed a differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs)-differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMis)-differentially expressed mRNAs (DEMs) regulatory network based on the ceRNA theory using data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We found that the DELs-DEMis-DEMs network was composed of 27 DELs nodes, seven DEMis nodes, and three DEMs nodes. The 27 DELs were further analyzed with several public databases to provide meaningful information for understanding the functional roles of lncRNAs in regulatory networks in PCa. We selected ADAMTS9-AS1 to determine its role in PCa and found that ADAMTS9-AS1 significantly influences tumor cell growth and proliferation, suggesting that it plays a tumor suppressive role. In addition, ADAMTS9-AS1 functioned as ceRNA, effectively becoming a sponge for hsa-mir-96 and modulating the expression of PRDM16. These results suggest that ceRNAs could accelerate biomarker discovery and therapeutic strategies for PCa.