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Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the digestive system with a high incidence and poor prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNA) have been reported to be closely associated with the occurrence and development of various human cancers. Data from GSE89102 shows an increase of THAP9-AS1 expression in ESCC. However, its functions and mechanisms underlying ESCC progression remain to be investigated. In this study, we found that THAP9-AS1 was overexpressed in ESCC tissues and cells. High THAP9-AS1 expression was positively correlated with tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and worse prognosis. Functionally, depletion of THAP9-AS1 suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while enhanced apoptosis in vitro. Consistently, knockdown of THAP9-AS1 inhibited xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, THAP9-AS1 could serve as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-133b, resulting in the upregulation of SOX4. Reciprocally, SOX4 bound to the promoter region of THAP9-AS1 to activate its transcription. Moreover, the anti-tumor property induced by THAP9-AS1 knockdown was significantly impaired due to miR-133b downregulation or SOX4 overexpression. Taken together, our study reveals a positive feedback loop of THAP9-AS1/miR-133b/SOX4 to facilitate ESCC progression, providing a potential molecular target to fight against ESCC.

THAP9-AS1/miR-133b/SOX4 positive feedback loop facilitates the progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma