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Long noncoding RNA MAFG-AS1 enhances proliferation, invasion, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition of melanoma cells through promoting KIT expression by competitively binding to miR-331-3p

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Abstract

Objective

Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer. This paper is dedicated to investigate the disease mechanism in regard to the axis of long noncoding RNA MAFG antisense 1 (MAFG-AS1)/microRNA (miR)-331-3p/KIT.

Methods

Levels of MAFG-AS1, miR-331-3p and KIT were analyzed in melanoma patients' cancer tissues and melanocytic nevi patients’ skin tissues. The correlation between prognosis of melanoma patients with MAFG-AS1 expression was observed. Loss- and gain-function tests were implemented to observe alternatives of cell biological activities.

Results

Melanoma patients’ cancer tissues expressed higher MAFG-AS1 and KIT and lower miR-331-3p. Patients with high MAFG-AS1 expression exhibited a poorer prognosis. After down-regulating MAFG-AS1 in A375 cells, cell proliferation, invasiveness, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) decreased, and apoptosis increased. Up-regulating MAFG-AS1 caused the opposite consequences. miR-331-3p inhibition or KIT overexpression eliminated the blockade of proliferation, invasion, and EMT caused by MAFG-AS1 silencing.

Conclusion

MAFG-AS1 competitively binds to miR-331-3p to elevate KIT expression, thereby enhancing the aggressiveness of melanoma cells.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

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Author notes

  1. Zongjiang Yao and Peiwu Li have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery & Wound Repair Surgery, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, No. 82, Cuiyingmen, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, 730030, GanSu, China

    Zongjiang Yao & Hong Liu

  2. Department of Emergency, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, 730030, GanSu, China

    Peiwu Li

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  1. Zongjiang Yao
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Contributions

Zongjiang Yao and Peiwu Li designed the research study. ZY, PL and HL performed the research. HL provided help and advice. Hong Liu analyzed the data. ZY and PL wrote the manuscript. HL reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors contributed to editorial changes in the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hong Liu.

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Conflict of interest

Zongjiang Yao declares that he has no conflict of interest. Peiwu Li declares that he has no conflict of interest. Hong Liu declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

All experimental procedures conformed with institutional guidelines, the experiment was often approved by the Ethics Committee of Lanzhou University Second Hospital (LZ20160728), and all patients participating in this study provided written informed consent in accordance with the “Helsinki Declaration”.

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Written informed consent was obtained from each subject.

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Supplementary Information

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13273_2023_409_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary file 1 (TIF 6823 KB)—Figure S1 MAFG-AS1 induces proliferation and metastasis of melanoma cells. A. Transfection efficacy of MAFG-AS1 in A375 cells; B-C. Proliferation of A375 cells; D. Invasion of A375 cells; E. Apoptosis of A375 cells; F. E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin and MMP2/9 mRNA expression in A375 cells. Three experimental repetitions; measurement data were shown in the form of mean ± standard deviation; * P < 0.05 vs. the pcDNA3.1 group.

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Yao, Z., Li, P. & Liu, H. Long noncoding RNA MAFG-AS1 enhances proliferation, invasion, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition of melanoma cells through promoting KIT expression by competitively binding to miR-331-3p. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-023-00409-3

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