Long noncoding RNA lncARSR promotes epithelial ovarian cancer cell proliferation and invasion by association with HuR and miR-200 family

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fifth leading cause of female cancer-related deaths worldwide. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as crucial regulators in various biological processes through diverse mechanisms. Recently, lncRNA Activated in RCC with Sunitinib Resistance (lncARSR) has been reported to be upregulated and involved in sunitinib resistance of renal cell carcinoma cells. However, the functional roles in EOC have not yet been explored. In the current study, we detected the expression levels of lncARSR in 76 paired EOC tissues and adjacent normal tissues, and observed that lncARSR expression was significantly increased in EOC tissues and correlated with FIGO stage, histological grade, lymph nodes metastasis and worse survival. Loss- and gain of function assays demonstrated that lncARSR promoted EOC cell proliferation and invasion. Further investigations showed that lncARSR interacted with HuR, upregulated beta-catenin expression and then activated Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway to regulate cell proliferation. Moreover, lncARSR increased ZEB1 and ZEB2 expression by competitively binding the miR-200 family to induce EMT and invasion. Our findings suggest that the lncARSR may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for EOC treatment.