AUTHOR=Chen Fei , Li Meijun , Wang Liang 

TITLE=LncRNA CASC11 Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression via Upregulation of UBE2T in a m6A-Dependent Manner

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2021.772671

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2021.772671

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent malignancies and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Besides, it has been revealed that long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) cancer susceptibility candidate 11 (CASC11) is involved in cancer progression. However, the functional role and underlying mechanism of CASC11 in HCC remains largely unknown. In this context, here, it was found that CASC11 was upregulated in HCC tissues and associated with tumor grades, metastasis, and prognosis of HCC patients. Functionally, CASC11 facilitated HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion <italic>in vitro</italic>, and enhanced tumor growth and metastasis <italic>in vivo</italic>. Mechanistically, CASC11 associated with and stabilized Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2T (UBE2T) mRNA. To be specific, it decreased UBE2T N<sup>6</sup>-methyladenosine (m<sup>6</sup>A) level <italic>via</italic> recruiting ALKBH5. Moreover, CASC11 inhibited the association between UBE2T mRNA and m<sup>6</sup>A reader protein YTHDF2. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the epigenetic mechanism of CASC11 in the regulation of UBE2T expression and possibly provide a novel therapeutic target for HCC treatment.</p>