Cuproptosis related ceRNA axis AC008083.2/miR-142-3p promotes the malignant progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma through STRN3.

BACKGROUND: CeRNA axis is an important way to regulate the occurrence and development of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Although the research on inducing cuproptosis of tumor cells is in the early stage of clinical practice, its mechanism of action is still of great significance for tumor treatment, including NPC. However, the regulation mechanism of cuproptosis in NPC by ceRNA network remains unclear. METHODS: The ceRNA network related to the survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma related genes was constructed by bioinformatics. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and other experiments were used to prove the conclusion. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that the AC008083.2/miR-142-3p axis drives STRN3 to promote the malignant progression of NPC. By performing enrichment analysis and phenotypic assays, we demonstrated that the changes in the expressions of AC008083.2/miR-142-3p/NPC can affect the proliferation of NPC. Mechanistically, luciferase reporter gene assays suggested that AC008083.2 acts as a ceRNA of miR-142-3p to regulate the content of STRN3. Furthermore, the regulations of STRN3 and the malignant progression of NPC by AC008083.2 depends on miR-142-3p to some extent. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals an innovative ceRNA regulatory network in NPC, which can be considered a new potential target for diagnosing and treating NPC.