AUTHOR=Li Junhua , Li Qingjian , Li Danhua , Shen Zhiwen , Zhang Kun , Bi Zhuofei , Li Yujuan 

TITLE=Long Non-Coding RNA MNX1-AS1 Promotes Progression of Triple Negative Breast Cancer by Enhancing Phosphorylation of Stat3

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.01108

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2020.01108

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for less than a quarter of breast cancer but has the poorest survival outcome and is prone to relapse as well as metastasis due to its aggressiveness and lack of therapeutic target. Herein, we analyzed the TCGA datasets of lncRNA expressional profiles of breast cancer vs. normal tissue and TNBC vs. Non-TNBC subtypes and screened a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) MNX1-AS1 overexpressing in TNBC. We found that MNX1-AS1 were upregulated in TNBC tumor tissues and correlated with poor survival outcome in TNBC patients. Silencing MNX1-AS1 reduced the aggressiveness of TNBC <italic>in vitro</italic> and <italic>in vivo</italic>. By using RNA pulldown assay followed by western blotting and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), we identified Stat3 was the MNX1-AS1 binding protein and MNX1-AS1 upregulated the phosphorylation of Stat3 by enhancing the interaction between p-JAK and Stat3. The present study suggested that targeting MNX1-AS1 may represent a promising therapeutic strategy to TNBC.</p>