Pseudogene CIDECP inhibits the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells through the miR-29a-3p /NFATC4 axis

Abstract

Abstract Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the cancers that seriously affects the health and life of women. The dysregulated expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays an important role in the progression of various cancers. To explore the functional roles of dysregulated lncRNAs in CC progressionand reveal its underlying molecular mechanisms. The differentially expressed lncRNAs were obtained by deep sequencing. RT‒qPCR assay was used to verify the expression levels of CIDECP, miR-29a-3p and NFATC4 in HeLa cells. The luciferase reporter assays and RT‒qPCR assays were used to verify the targeting relationship between CIDECP and miR-29a-3p as well as miR-29a-3p and NFATC4. Transwell assay, wound healing assay and MTT assay were used to detect the effects of CIDECP on the migration, invasion and cell viability of HeLa cells. The potential prognostic value of CIDECP in CC was predicted by bioinformatics analysis software. We found that pseudogene CIDECP was significantly downregulated in TNF-α-treated HeLa cells. The expression level of CIDECP in CC tissues was lower than that in adjacent tissues and was related to the CC stage. Lower expression of CIDECP was remarkably associated with worse prognosis in patients with CC. Cell function assays confirmed that CIDECP inhibited the migration, invasion and viability of HeLa cells and upregulated the expression level of NFATC4 by as a ceRNA of miR-29a-3p. This study demonstrated that the expression and the role of CIDECP in CC and provided molecular markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of CC.