LncRNA CARMN overexpression promotes prognosis and chemosensitivity of triple negative breast cancer via acting as miR143-3p host gene and inhibiting DNA replication

BACKGROUND: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer with poor prognosis and lack of effective treatment target. Here we screened differentially expressed lncRNAs through bioinformatics analysis and identified CARMN as a downregulated lncRNA which is lowest expressed in TNBC. We aimed to identify the potential role and molecular mechanisms of CARMN in TNBC. METHODS: Predictive value of CARMN was explored in breast cancer cohorts. TNBC cell lines with CARMN overexpression or CARMN silence and were used for in vitro and in vivo experiments. RNA-seq of CARMN overexpressed cells was performed for exploring downstream of CARMN. RESULTS: CARMN is downregulated at different phase of malignant transformation of breast tissue. CARMN can predict both better prognosis and higher response rate of cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer. A nomogram is built to predict cisplatin-based chemotherapy response in breast cancer. Through in vitro and in vivo studies, we confirmed CARMN can also inhibit tumorigenesis and enhance sensitivity to cisplatin in TNBC cells. RNA-seq and further experiments revealed CARMN can inhibit DNA replication. MCM5, an important DNA replication initiation factor, is the most downregulated gene in DNA replication pathway following CARMN overexpression. We confirmed CARMN can produce miR143-3p from its exon5 which is DROSHA and DICER dependent, resulting binding and decrease of MCM5. Moreover, suppressing miR143-3p can weaken function of CARMN in suppressing tumorigenesis and promoting chemosensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated lncRNA CARMN is a predictive biomarker of better prognosis and enhanced cisplatin sensitivity in TNBC. CARMN is the host gene of miR143-3p which downregulates MCM5, causing inhibited DNA replication. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13046-021-02015-4.