LncRNA MAGI2-AS3 Affects Cell Invasion and Migration of Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma (CSCC) via Sponging miRNA-233/EPB41L3 Axis

Introduction The incidence of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) has expanded in recent years. However, the function of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) MAGI2-AS3 in the occurrence and progression of CSCC remains unclear. Therefore, the role of lncRNA MAGI2-AS3 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) was investigated in our study. Methods We used qRT-PCR analysis to identify the level of MAGI2-AS3 mRNA expression in CSCC clinical samples and cell lines. We investigated cell migration and invasion of CSCC cells transfected with MAGI2-AS3, miR-233 mimic, or EPB41L3 with transwell assays. Bioinformatics analysis and a luciferase reporter assay were employed to predict the interaction between MAGI2-AS3 and miR-233. Results We found that MAGI2-AS3 and EPB41L3 were both downregulated in CSCC and the expression of this two was positively correlated. Bioinformatics analysis showed that MAGI2-AS3 might bind to miR-233, which could directly target EPB41L3. In CSCC cells, overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 led to upregulated, while overexpression of miRNA-233 led to downregulated expression of EPB41L3. However, MAGI2-AS3 and miR-233 did not affect the expression of each other. In addition, overexpression of MAGI2-AS3 and EPB41L3 led to inhibited cancer cell invasion and migration, while overexpression of miR-233 played an opposite role and attenuated the effects of overexpressing MAGI2-AS3. Conclusion MAGI2-AS3 may sponge miR-233 to upregulate EPB41L3, thereby inhibiting CSCC cell invasion and migration.