Long non‑coding RNA (lncRNA) tumor protein translationally controlled 1 antisense RNA 1 (TPT1‑AS1) serves as an oncogene in several tumors, including ovarian and cervical cancer. However, the functional role of TPT1‑AS1 in liver cancer (LC) is not completely understood. The present study aimed to explore the role of TPT1‑AS1 in LC. In this study, the reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR results demonstrated that TPT1‑AS1 expression was significantly upregulated in LC tissues and cell lines compared with adjacent paracancerous tissues and THLE‑3 cells, respectively. Elevated TPT1‑AS1 expression was significantly associated with TNM stage lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in patients with LC, as determined via χ2 and Kaplan‑Meier survival analyses. By constructing TPT1‑AS1 knockdown LC cell lines (HepG2 and SNU‑182), loss‑of‑function experiments, including Cell Counting Kit‑8, colony formation, flow cytometry, wound healing and Transwell assays, were performed to explore the function role of TPT1‑AS1 in LC in vitro. The results demonstrated that TPT1‑AS1 knockdown inhibited LC cell proliferation, G1/S transition, migration and invasion compared with the small interfering RNA (si)‑negative control (NC) group. Mechanistically, TPT1‑AS1 knockdown markedly decreased CDK4, N‑cadherin and Vimentin expression levels, but notably increased p21 and E‑cadherin expression levels compared with the si‑NC group. Therefore, the results of the present study suggested that TPT1‑AS1 might serve as a promising therapeutic target for LC treatment.
Keywords: invasion; liver cancer; migration; prognosis; proliferation; tumor protein translationally controlled 1 antisense RNA 1.