LncRNA TUSC7 sponges miR-10a-5p and inhibits BDNF/ERK pathway to suppress glioma cell proliferation and migration.

Abstract

Gliomas as primary cerebral malignancies frequently occurring in adults have relatively high morbidity and mortality. The underlying role of long non-coding ribonucleic acids (lncRNAs) in malignancies has attracted much attention, among which tumor suppressor candidate 7 (TUSC7) is a novel tumor suppressor gene whose regulatory mechanism in human cerebral gliomas remains inconclusive. In this study, bioinformatics analysis indicated that TUSC7 could specifically bind to microRNA (miR)-10a-5p, and according to quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR), miR-10a-5p was up-regulated in human glioma cells and negatively correlated with TUSC7 expression. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay showed the ability of TUSC7 to bind to miR-10a-5p, and overexpression of TUSC7 notably inhibited miR-10a-5p expression, restrained human glioma cell proliferation and migration, and regulated cell cycle and cyclin expression via the brain-derived neurotrophic factor/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (BDNF/ERK) pathway. The inhibitory effect of TUSC7 on miR-10a-5p was also verified by designing miR-10a-5p overexpression and knockdown panels for wound healing, Transwell and Western blotting assays. TUSC7 suppresses human glioma cell proliferation and migration by negatively modulating miR-10a-5p and inhibiting the BDNF/ERK pathway, thus acting as a tumor suppressor gene in human gliomas.