LncRNA MYCNOS promotes glioblastoma cell proliferation by regulating miR-216b/FOXM1 axis

MYCNOS is an oncogenic lncRNA in liver cancer, but its role in glioblastoma (GBM) is unknown. We predicted that MYCNOS might interact with miR-216b, which targets FOXM1 to perform tumor suppressive roles. This study was performed to analyze the role of MYCNOS in GBM and explore its potential interactions with miR-216b and FOXM1. MYCNOS expression in paired GBM and non-tumor tissues from 62 GBM patients was analyzed by RT-qPCR. The interaction between MYCNOS and miR-216b was predicted by IntaRNA 2.0 and confirmed by dual luciferase activity assay. Overexpression of MYCNOS, miR-216b, and FOXM1 was achieved in GBM cells, followed by performing RT-qPCR and Western blot to explore the relationship among them. CCK-8 assay was performed to explore the role of MYCNOS, miR-216b, and FOXM1 in regulating GBM cell proliferation. MYCNOS was upregulated in GBM tissues compared to the paired non-tumor tissues. MYCNOS is predicted to interact with miR-216b, but overexpression of MYCNOS and miR-216b failed to affect each other’s expression significantly. Dual luciferase activity assay showed that MYCNOS and miR-216b could directly interact with each other. MYCNOS overexpression increased the expression of FOXM1, which is a direct target of miR-216b. Cell proliferation assay showed that MYCNOS and FOXM1 overexpression resulted in an increased proliferation rate of GBM cells, while miR-216b overexpression suppressed cell proliferation. Moreover, MYCNOS overexpression suppressed the role of miR-216b. MYCNOS may regulate FOXM1 expression of by serving as an endogenous sponge of miR-216b axis to promote the proliferation of GBM cells.