Abstract: Objective To explore the molecular mechanism of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 on regulating the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Methods Collect cancer tissue and paracancerous tissue specimens of 42 patients with cervical cancer admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Medical University from March 2020 to June 2021. The qRT-PCR method was used to detect the expression levels of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1, miR-3619-5p in cervical cancer tissues, adjacent tissues, human cervical epithelial immortalized cells H8, and human cervical cancer cell lines SiHa, HeLa, and Cashi. Taking SiHa cells as the research object, they were randomly grouped into 6 groups: si-NC group, si-lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 group, miR-NC group, miR-3619-5p group, anti-miR-NC + si-lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 group, anti-miR-3619-5p + si-lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 group. The proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of SiHa cells in each group were assayed by MTT assay and transwell assay respectively. The dual luciferase reporter assay was used to determine the effect of miR-3619-5p overexpression on the luciferase activity of wild-type vector lncRNA PSMA3-AS1-WT and mutant vector lncRNA PSMA3-AS1-MUT. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression levels of MMP2 and MMP9. Results The expression level of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 in cervical cancer tissues was higher than that in the adjacent tissues (P< 0. 01), and the expression level of miR-3619-5p was lower than that in the adjacent tissues (P< 0. 01). Compared with the H8 cells, the expression level of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 in SiHa, HeLa, and Caski cells was increased (P < 0. 01), while the expression level of miR-3619-5p was decreased (P < 0. 01). Compared with the si-NC group, the cell viability, and the protein expression levels of MMP2, MMP9 in the si-lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 group were decreased (P< 0. 05), and the numbers of migrated and invaded cells were decreased (P < 0. 05). Compared with the miR-NC group, the cell viability and the protein expression levels of MMP2, MMP9 in the miR-3619-5p group were decreased (P< 0. 01), and the numbers of migrated and invaded cells were decreased (P < 0. 01). Overexpression of miR-3619-5p could inhibit the luciferase activity of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1-WT (P< 0. 01), but failed to affect the luciferase activity of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1-MUT. Compared with the anti-miR-NC + si-lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 group, the cell viability, and the protein expression levels of MMP2, MMP9 in the anti-miR-3619-5p + si-lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 group were increased (P< 0. 01), and the numbers of migrated and invaded cells were increased (P< 0. 01). Conclusion Interfering with the expression of lncRNA PSMA3-AS1 could reduce the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells by targeting miR-3619-5p.

Key words: cervical cancer, proliferation, migration, invasion, lncRNA PSMA3-AS1, miR-3619-5p