NR2F1-AS1 Acts as an Oncogene in Breast Cancer by Competitively Binding with miR-641

BACKGROUND: Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) NR2F1-AS1 has been previously reported to be dysregulated in human cancers and implicated in the tumorigenesis and development of tumors. In this research, we detected the expression level and biological function of NR2F1-AS1 in breast cancer (BC). METHODS: The expression of NR2F1-AS1 in BC tissues and cell lines was determined by qRT-PCR analysis. The associations of NR2F1-AS1 expression with clinical characteristics and survival rate of BC patients were also analyzed. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were measured by the CCK-8 and Transwell assay. RESULTS: The results revealed that the total survival time of BC patients with high NR2F1-AS1 expression was lower than that of BC patients with low NR2F1-AS1 expression. Moreover, functional experiments demonstrated that knockdown of NR2F1-AS1 inhibited BC cell viability, migration, and invasion abilities, whereas overexpression of NR2F1-AS1 had the opposite effect. Mechanistic investigation revealed that NR2F1-AS1 can competitively bind with microRNA-641 (miR-641) in BC. These results revealed that NR2F1-AS1 functioned as an oncogene by sponging miR-641 expression in BC cell progression. Moreover, miR-641 was negatively correlated with NR2F1-AS1 in BC tissues. CONCLUSION: Hence, NR2F1-AS1 was found to act as an oncogene in breast cancer by suppressing miR-641. We suggested that NR2F1-AS1 could be a potential biomarker for BC diagnosis and therapy.