The RNA-binding protein ELAVL1 promotes Beclin1-mediated cellular autophagy and thus endometrial cancer development by affecting LncRNA-neat stability

Our study aims to investigate the roles of embryonic lethal abnormal vision-like 1 (ELAVL1) and long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) NEAT1 in endometrial cancer (EC), focusing on their underlying molecular mechanisms.We obtained EC cell lines (HEC-1A, Ishikawa, RL95-2, HEC-1B, and AN3CA) from ATCC. We used siRNAs (si-ELAVL1#1 and si-ELAVL1#2) and overexpression RNAs (OE ELAVL1 and OE-NEAT1) for knockdown or overexpression of ELAVL1 and LncRNA NEAT1. We also employed 3-MA (5mM) or rapamycin (100µM) to inhibit or promote autophagy. Moreover, we conducted RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays to confirm the interaction between LncRNA NEAT1 and ELAVL1. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and transwell assays were utilized to assess cell proliferation and migration. Additionally, we measured the expression of ELAVL1 and Beclin1 through Western blotting and RT-qPCR.ELAVL1 was found to be highly expressed in EC. Furthermore, ELAVL1 promoted the proliferation, invasion, and migration of EC cells through the regulation of Beclin1-related pathways. RIP assays revealed a direct interaction between LncRNA NEAT1 and ELAVL1, with ELAVL1 stabilizing LncRNA NEAT1 mRNA in EC cells. Additionally, we observed that ELAVL1 influenced EC cell proliferation, invasion, and migration through the regulation of LncRNA NEAT1-mediated regulation of Beclin1 expression. Moreover, in an animal study, we determined that ELAVL1 influenced endometrial cancer tumor growth through its interaction with LncRNA NEAT1, which mediated Beclin1 expression in vivo.In summary, our study showed that ELAVL1 regulated the malignant behavior of endometrial cancer cells through the modulation of LncRNA NEAT1-mediated regulation of Beclin1 expression.