Lowly-expressed lncRNA GAS5 facilitates progression of ovarian cancer through targeting miR-196-5p and thereby regulating HOXA5

This investigation was aimed at extrapolating whether and how lncRNA GAS5, miR-196a-5p and HOXA5 altered progression of ovarian cancer (OA). Totally 195 pairs of OA tissues and adjacent normal tissues were collected. Also si-GAS5, pcDNA-GAS5, miR-196a-5p mimic, miR-196a-5p inhibitor and negative control (NC) were, respectively, transfected into OA cells. Besides, dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was performed to validate the targeted relationships between GAS5 and miR-196a-5p, as well as between miR-196a-5p and HOXA5. The impacts of GAS5, miR-196a-5p and HOXA5 on viability, proliferation and apoptosis of OA cells were appraised via conduction of colony formation assay, MTT assay and flow cytometry assay. Lower GAS5 expression and higher miR-196a-5p expression were associated with larger tumor size (≥5 cm) and more advanced FIGO stage (III-IV) of OA patients (P