MBNL1-AS1 attenuates tumor cell proliferation by regulating the miR-29c-3p/BVES signal in colorectal cancer

Dysregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is involved in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). In the present study, the identification of muscle blind like splicing regulator 1 antisense RNA 1 (MBNL1-AS1) lncRNA was reported. Firstly, Cell Counting Kit-8, EdU and colony formation assays were uesed to explore the role of MBNL1-AS1 in regulating the proliferation of CRC cells. According to TCGA database, it was found that MBNL1-AS1 was correlated with microRNA (miR)-29c-3p and blood vessel epicardial substance (BVES) expression in CRC cells. Then, the regulation among MBNL1-AS1, miR-29C-3P and BVES was detected by dual luciferase reporter assay and the function of MBNL1-AS1/miR-29C-3P/BVES axis was explored by rescue assay. The results demonstrated that MBNL1-AS1 expression was decreased in CRC and was associated with the size of tumors derived from patients with CRC. Functionally, the upregulation of MBNL1-AS1 suppressed CRC cell proliferation in vitro and inhibited tumor growth in vivo, while knockdown of MBNL1-AS1 expression caused the opposite effects. MBNL1-AS1 expression correlated with BVES expression in CRC tissues and MBNL1-AS1 enhanced the stability of BVES mRNA by functioning as a competing endogenous RNA to sponge miR-29c-3p; the latter directly targeted MBNL1-AS1 and BVES mRNA 3 & PRIME;UTR. Collectively, the results indicated that MBNL1-AS1 suppressed CRC cell proliferation by regulating miR-29c-3p/BVES signaling, suggesting that the MBNL1-AS1/miR-29c-3p/BVES axis may be a potential therapeutic target for CRC.