OBJECTIVE: Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is highly invasive, and patients with advanced disease generally have a poor prognosis. ZNF295-AS1 is abnormally expressed in lung cancer. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of ZNF295-AS1 in LUSC and its potential regulatory mechanisms. METHODS: This study enrolled 116 patients with lung upper-segment carcinoma (LUSC) and obtained LUSC tissue and adjacent normal tissue during surgery. RT-qPCR was used to assess the expression levels of ZNF295-AS1 and miR-96-5p in tissues and cell lines. Cox proportional hazards analysis identified independent factors affecting LUSC prognosis. CCK-8 and Transwell assays assessed cellular proliferation, invasion, and migration capabilities, respectively. DLR validated the relationship between ZNF295-AS1 and miR-96-5p. RESULTS: Compared with normal tissue and BEAS-2B cells, ZNF295-AS1 is significantly downregulated in LUSC tissue and cells. ZNF295-AS1 negatively regulates miR-96-5p level by binding to it as a target. ZNF295-AS1 serves as a protective factor influencing LUSC prognosis. Furthermore, elevating ZNF295-AS1 levels reduces miR-96-5p expression in cells, thereby diminishing the proliferation, migration, and invasion capabilities of LUSC cell lines and mitigating LUSC progression. CONCLUSION: ZNF295-AS1 demonstrates significant prognostic value in clinical settings for LUSC and holds promise as a novel prognostic biomarker. ZNF295-AS1 acts as a protective factor against LUSC. Mechanistically, ZNF295-AS1 alleviates LUSC progression and improves patient prognosis by regulating miR-96-5p levels.
Huang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.