Fig. 3

miR-520c-3p expression was negatively regulated by HOXA-AS2. A The binding site between HOXA-AS2 and miR-520c-3p was predicted from starBase database. B The role of miR-520c-3p on cell luciferase activity of HOXA-AS2-WT and HOXA-AS2-MUT reporter systems was measured by luciferase reporter assay. C, D SCC-25 and CAL-27 cells transfected with miR-520c-3p mimic or inhibitor, and the expression levels of miR-520c-3p were detected by RT-qPCR. E The expression of miR-520c-3p was measured in OSCC cancer tissues and their adjacent normal tissues by RT-qPCR. F miR-520c-3p expression was detected in normal human oral keratinocyte (NHOK) and OSCC cell lines (CAL-27, SCC-9, SCC-25) by RT-qPCR. SCC-25 and CAL-27 cells were respectively transfected with pcDNA plus miR-NC, HOXA-AS2 plus miR-NC, pcDNA plus miR-520c-3p mimic, or HOXA-AS2 plus miR-520c-3p mimic, G, H cell proliferation was detected by CCK8 assay, I cell migration and invasion abilities were detected by transwell assays. The experiment was repeated at least three times. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001