SNHG19 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma through regulating the miR-137/protein tyrosine phosphatase 4A3 axis.

Objectives: Long noncoding RNAs plays the important part in tumor biology. SNHG19 was found to be a new oncogenic lncRNA in some malignant tumors. However, the effect of SNHG19 in hepatocellular carcinoma has not been reported.

Methods: The expression of SNHG19 in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues were detected by using quantitative Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Melanoma cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas were included in this study. cell counting kit-8 assay, Transwell, and scratch wound assay were used to explore the role of SNHG19 in melanoma cells. Luciferase reporter assays and RNA pull-down assay were used to explore the molecular mechanism of SNHG19 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Results: Here, we found that SNHG19 level was upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma patients with high levels of SNHG19 have shorter Disease-Free Survival (RFS). SNHG19 promotes the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4A3 expression by sponging miR-137 to liberate Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4A3 mRNA transcripts. SNHG19 enhances the development of hepatocellular carcinoma by affecting miR-137/Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4A3 axis.

Conclusion: These results demonstrated the effect of SNHG19 in the occurrence and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. SNHG19 may be used as the specific molecular target in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.