Long non-coding RNA HCG11 suppresses the malignant phenotype of non-small cell lung cancer cells by targeting a miR-875/SATB2 axis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the development and progression of a variety of diseases. However, the role of the lncRNA HLA complex group 11 (HCG11) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear. The present study showed that the expression levels of HCG11 were reduced in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues, and similar results were obtained in experiments using lung cancer cell lines. Additionally, patients with high HCG11 expression had an increased survival rate compared with patients with low HCG11 expression. Further studies have shown that overexpression of HCG11 inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, it was observed that HCG11 expression was negatively associated with the expression levels of oncogenic microRNA-875 (miR-875) in patient specimens. Specifically, HCG11 served as a sponge of miR-875. Notably, it was determined that special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (SATB2) was a direct target gene of miR-875, and overexpression of miR-875 largely abrogated the effects of HCG11 in NSCLC cells. In conclusion, HCG11 was shown to suppress the malignant properties of NSCLC cells by targeting a miR-875/SATB2 axis, and may therefore be a promising target for the treatment of NSCLC.