LncRNA EPB41L4A-AS1 Regulates Cell Proliferation, Apoptosis and Metastasis in Breast Cancer

Abstract Background: Breast cancer is a leading global public health problem. In our previous study, we identified that lncRNA EPB41L4A antisense RNA 1 (EPB41L4A-AS1) was significantly downregulated in breast cancer. However, the functional role of EPB41L4A-AS1 in breast cancer has not been clarified. Here, we further confirmed the expression and biological function of EPB41L4A-AS1 in breast cancer. Methods: To demonstrate the role of EPB41L4A-AS1 in breast cancer, we transfected breast cancer lines with pcDNA3.1-EPB41L4A-AS1 expression vector to induce ectopic overexpression of EPB41L4A-AS1. Then, to explore the role of EPB41L4A-AS1 overexpression in breast cancer cell growth, cell cycle, apoptosis, invasion and migration capacity, we performed CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry analysis, wound recovery and transwell assay, respectively. We also constructed a co-expression network to explore the potential effect mechanism of EPB41L4A-AS1. Results: Our research showed EPB41L4A-AS1 expression was significantly lower in tumor tissues than in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. overexpression of EPB41L4A-AS1 significantly reduced the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Flow cytometric analysis showed that forced expression of EPB41L4A-AS1 significantly increased the apoptosis rate of breast cancer cells. In addition, we found that upregulated EPB41L4A-AS1 significantly inhibited the migration and invasive ability of breast cancer. Functional analysis of co-expressed mRNAs suggested that EPB41L4A-AS1 may be involved in ribosomal, cell cycle, spliceosomal and p53 signaling pathways. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that EPB41L4A-AS1 is a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer.