Long non-coding RNA Fer-1-like protein 4 acts as a tumor suppressor via miR-106a-5p and predicts good prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in various cancers. Fer-1-like protein 4 (FER1L4), one of lncRNAs, plays a role as tumor suppressor in various human cancers and can be regulated by microRNA. However, the role and function of FER1L4 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to annotate the role of FER1L4 and its clinical value in HCC. In the present study, we found that FER1L4 was lowly expressed in HCC tissue specimens as well as in malignant HCC cell lines, while the situation is opposite in miR-106a-5p. We found that down-regulated FER1L4 increased the expression of miR-106a-5p significantly and there was a reciprocal repression between FER1L4 and miR-106a-5p. Moreover, we identified FER1L4 as a target of miR-106a-5p by using dual-luciferase reporter assay. Knockdown of FER1L4 promoted the malignancy of HCC cells, including proliferation, migration, and invasion, and inhibited cell apoptosis. We also found that FER1L4 functions as a tumor suppressor in vivo. Together, these results suggest that FER1L4 could exert a tumor suppressive impact on HCC, which at least, in part, through suppressing miR-106a-5p expression. FER1L4, as well as miR-106a-5p, can predict the clinical prognosis of HCC alone or combined, which may be a novel therapeutic target for treating HCC.