LINC00668 Modulates SOCS5 Expression Through Competitively Sponging miR-518c-3p to Facilitate Glioma Cell Proliferation

Glioma is a common invasive cancer with unfavorable prognosis in patients. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) exert significant functions in carcinogenesis of various cancers including glioma. Among them, long intergenic non-coding RNA 668 (LINC00668) was reported to function as oncogene in various cancers, but its molecular mechanism in glioma has not been thoroughly researched. Our current study aimed to investigate the role and molecular mechanism of LINC00668 in glioma cells. We initially found out that LINC00668 was up-regulated in glioma cells. Through a series of function assays, LINC00668 was verified to facilitate cell proliferation and inhibit apoptosis in glioma. Then, by means of online databases, RNA pull down assay and RIP assay, we verified the binding relation between LINC00668 and miR-518c-3p. Also, the next function assays exposed that miR-518c-3p was the tumor suppressor in glioma cells. Similarly, SOCS5 (suppressor of cytokine signaling 5) was found to bind with miR-518c-3p, which repressed glioma tumorigenesis by targeting SOCS5. Moreover, rescue assays manifested that LINC00668 modulated expression of SOCS5 in a miR-518c-3p-dependent way and further regulated glioma tumorigenesis. Overall, LINC00668 modulates SOCS5 expression through competitively sponging miR-518c-3p to facilitate glioma cell proliferation.