LncRNA AIRN influences the proliferation and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by regulating STAT1 ubiquitination

Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various human diseases. In this study, we probed into the role and potential mechanisms of the antisense of IGF2R non-protein coding RNA (LncRNA AIRN) in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, we corroborated that LncRNA AIRN expression was raised in the HCC tissues and cells. The bioinformatic analysis revealed that a potential interaction between LncRNA AIRN and STAT1, which was verified by the RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation. In the cycloheximide-chase assay, the knockdown of LncRNA AIRN enhanced the stability of STAT1 protein. In the immunoprecipitation assay, the knockdown of LncRNA AIRN restrained the cullin 4A (CUL4A)-mediated ubiquitination of STAT1 protein. The cell transfection, MTT and flow cytometry assays expounded that the LncRNA AIRN/STAT1 axis was bound up with the regulation of the proliferation and apoptosis of HCC cells. The in vivo experiments corroborated that the knockdown of LncRNA AIRN restrained the tumor growth of HCC. Our data expounded that the knockdown of LncRNA AIRN restrained HCC cell proliferation and boosted cell apoptosis by restraining the CUL4A-mediated ubiquitination of STAT1 protein.