Malignant melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer and a tumor of melanocytic origin. Recent studies have suggested that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial regulatory roles in multiple malignancies, including melanoma. Testis expressed 41 (TEX41) is a relatively new lncRNA whose mechanism in melanoma remains vague. | Zheng et al. BMC Cancer 2021 21 1339 https s12885-021-09039-1 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access IRF4 activated TEX41 promotes the malignant behaviors of melanoma cells by targeting miR 103a 3p C1QB axis Yingna Zheng1 Wu Zhou1 Min Li1 Ruixue Xu1 Shuai Zhang1 Ying Liu2 and Ying Cen3 Abstract Background Malignant melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer and a tumor of melanocytic origin. Recent studies have suggested that long non-coding RNAs lncRNAs play crucial regulatory roles in multiple malignancies including melanoma. Testis expressed 41 TEX41 is a relatively new lncRNA whose mechanism in melanoma remains vague. Aims This study aimed to explore the role and specific mechanism of TEX41 in melanoma. Methods The expression of genes involved in this study was determined by qRT-PCR. Functional assays were con- ducted to analyze the role of relevant genes in melanoma cells. The interaction between TEX41 promoter and IRF4 as well as the relationship among TEX41 miR-103a-3p and C1QB was verified by mechanism assays. Results IRF4 up-regulated TEX41 at the transcriptional level in melanoma cells. TEX41 knockdown hindered mela- noma cell proliferation migration and invasion while promoting cell apoptosis. TEX41 bound to miR-103a-3p and regulated C1QB. The suppressive impact of TEX41 depletion on melanoma cell malignant behaviors could be coun- teracted by miR-103a-3p inhibition or C1QB overexpression. Moreover IRF4 could facilitate melanoma cell growth via up-regulating C1QB. Conclusions IRF4-activated TEX41 sequestered miR-103a-3p and modulated C1QB to promote melanoma cell malignant behaviors for which TEX41 might be regarded as a potential therapeutic target for melanoma. Keywords Melanoma TEX41 IRF4 miR-103a-3p C1QB Background is necessary to study the molecular mechanism of mela- Malignant melanoma derived from melanocytes 1 is a noma development so as to provide new targets for mel- type of aggressive cancer that occurs on the body surface anoma clinical .
