LncRNA HOTAIRM1 is involved in the progression of acute myeloid leukemia through targeting miR-148b.

LncRNAs have been shown to be involved in the biological and pathological processes of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Hox antisense intergenic RNA myeloid 1 (HOTAIRM1) was reported to be highly expressed in AML. However, the detailed role and molecular mechanism of HOTAIRM1 in AML pathogenesis remain undefined. In the present study, HOTAIRM1 and miR-148b expressions in AML patients and healthy controls were detected by qRT-PCR. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated by CCK-8 and flow cytometry assays, respectively. The regulatory interaction between HOTAIRM1 and miR-148b was explored by bioinformatics analysis using starBase v3.0 software and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) AML dataset. We found that the miR-148/miR-152 family members including miR-148a, miR-148b, and miR-152 were predicted to be potential targets of HOTAIRM1. HOTAIRM1 expression was negatively correlated with miR-148b expression but had no correlation with miR-148a/miR-152 expressions in AML samples from the TCGA dataset. HOTAIRM1 expression was higher while miR-148b expression was lower in AML patients than in healthy controls. A negative correlation between HOTAIRM1 and miR-148b in AML patients was observed. HOTAIRM1 silencing and miR-148b overexpression both suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in AML cells. miR-148b was identified as a target of HOTAIRM1 in AML cells. Moreover, HOTAIRM1 knockdown inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in AML cells by negatively regulating miR-148b. In summary, HOTAIRM1 was involved in the progression of AML through targeting miR-148b, shedding light on the biological function and molecular mechanism of HOTAIRM1 in AML.