LAUSR

OBJECTIVE The long non-coding RNA, FAM83H antisense RNA 1 (head to head) (FAM83H-AS1), has been reported to function as an oncogene in some types of cancer. However, the role of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still remains unknown. The present work aims to explore the effect of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 on cell proliferation and cell invasion in HCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS 66 pairs of HCC tissue samples and adjacent normal tissues were collected, and the expression level of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 was detected by quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was performed to detect cell proliferation ability, and transwell assays were applied to observe the effect of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 on cell migration and invasion. QRT-PCR and Western blot analysis was used to determine the mRNA and protein expression. RESULTS In the present study, our results confirmed that lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 expression was overexpressed in HCC tissues relative to the adjacent normal tissues. Furthermore, higher lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 expression significantly associated with tumor size and vascular invasion in patients with HCC. The Kaplan-Meier methods and log rank test demonstrated that increased lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 expression associated with shorter patient overall survival compared to lower lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 expression in patients with HCC. Moreover, function assays by CCK-8 cell proliferation and transwell cell migration and invasion assays showed that the knockdown of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion ability in HCC. Moreover, we found that the downregulating expression of lncRNA FAM83H-AS1 inhibited Wnt/β-catenin pathway by reducing β-catenin and WNT1 expression in HCC cells. CONCLUSIONS Together, our results indicated that it plays an important role in HCC progression and may be a potential target for HCC treatment.