LEF1-AS1 accelerates tumorigenesis in glioma by sponging miR-489-3p to enhance HIGD1A

Long non-coding (lncRNA) lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 antisense RNA 1 (LEF1-AS1) has been validated to be implicated in manifold cancers, whereas its function in glioma has not been understood thoroughly. Hence, in this study, we tested that LEF1-AS1 expression was significantly upregulated in glioma tissues and cell lines. Besides, knockdown of LEF1-AS1 repressed cell proliferation while activated apoptosis in glioma cells in vitro, and also suppressed tumor growth in vivo. RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assays affirmed that LEF1-AS1 could bind with miR-489-3p. In addition, miR-489-3p expression was downregulated in glioma cells. Moreover, miR-489-3p depletion partly offset LEF1-AS1 knockdown-mediated function on proliferation and apoptosis. Further, HIGD1A identified as the target gene of miR-489-3p was upregulated in glioma cells. HIGD1A silence could restrict the process of glioma. In rescue assays, upregulation of HIGD1A remedied the inhibitory impacts of LEF1-AS1 silence on glioma cell growth. In summary, our studies corroborated the regulatory mechanism of LEF1-AS1/miR-489-3p/HIGD1A axis in glioma, suggesting that targeting LEF1-AS1 might be a promising method for glioma therapy in the future.