Long non‐coding RNA miR143HG predicts good prognosis and inhibits tumor multiplication and metastasis by suppressing mitogen‐activated protein kinase and Wnt signaling pathways in hepatocellular carcinoma

Aim The expression of microRNA143HG (miR143HG) was significantly downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues by bioinformatics analysis. This study aimed to determine the role of miR143HG in HCC cell proliferation and metastasis. Methods Fifty patients with HCC were divided into two groups based on median miR143HG expression levels. The correlation between miR143HG expression and prognosis, and the correlations between miR143HG expression and the patients’ clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated based on the two groups. Gain‐of‐function and loss‐of‐function measurements of miR143HG were carried out to verify the biological function of miR143HG by Cell Counting Kit‐8, EdU, Transwell, and western blotting assays and flow cytometric analysis. The underlying mechanism was explored by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction of miRNA (miR‐155‐5p and miR‐26b‐5p), luciferase reporter assay, western blotting of Wnt signaling pathway‐related proteins (β‐catenin, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), ZEB1, and E‐cadherin), mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway‐related proteins (extracellular signal‐regulated kinase [ERK]1/2, p‐ERK1/2, c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK), p‐JNK, P38, and p‐P38), and immunofluorescence staining of β‐catenin. Results miR143HG expression was markedly downregulated in HCC tissues and cells. Its expression was associated with the presence or absence of portal vein tumor thrombus, hepatitis B virus infection, relapse and metastasis, and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage. Additionally, miR143HG expression predicted a good prognosis and acted as an independent prognostic factor in HCC for overall survival. Overexpression of miR143HG suppressed HCC cell proliferation and metastasis, and induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Consistently, the depletion of miR143HG resulted in the opposite phenomenon of the aforementioned results. miR143HG inhibits miR‐155 expression; miR‐155 directly targets APC, which is a negative regulator of the Wnt/β‐catenin pathway, so miR143HG can act on the Wnt pathway. miR143HG was further found to reduce the expression of β‐catenin and block the nuclear accumulation of β‐catenin, ultimately inhibiting the activation of the Wnt pathway. It inhibits the expression of Wnt downstream target gene ZEB1, and then E‐cadherin expression is increased and cell motility is inhibited. Furthermore, miR143HG exerts its antiproliferative function by i