Upregulation and hypomethylation of lncRNA AFAP1-AS1 predicts a poor prognosis and promotes the migration and invasion of cervical cancer

Although lncRNA AFAP1 antisense RNA1 (AFAP1-AS1) is considered an oncogenic lncRNA, little is known about the role of AFAP1-AS1 in cervical cancer. In the present study, we found that AFAP1-AS1 was elevated and hypomethylated in cervical cancer and was associated with a poor prognosis of patients with cervical cancer by analyzing the Cancer RNA-Seq Nexus (CRN), MethCH and UCSC XENA databases. Subsequently, we knocked AFAP1-AS1 expression down using siRNAs in cervical cancer cells. Wound healing experiments and matrigel invasion experiments revealed that the downregulation of AFAP1-AS1 suppressed the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Furthermore, western blot analysis demonstrated that the antitumor effects induced by the silencing of AFAP1-AS1 were mainly mediated through the regulation of the Rho/Rac signaling pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes. Taken together, the findings of the present study indicate that the expression level of AFAP1-AS1 may be involved in the development of cervical cancer. Thus, AFAP1-AS1 may be a novel prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for patients with cervical cancer.