Abstract: Objective To investigate the biological role and the potential mechanisms of LINC00221 in proliferation,migration and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) through ERK signaling pathway. Methods qRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of LINC00221 in HCC cell lines.MHCC-LM3 cell were divided into Blank control group,Negative control group,siRNA-LINC00221 group and siRNA-LINC00221+ERK activator group.The cell proliferation,migration and invasion capabilities were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8(CCK-8),wound-healing assay and Transwell assay.The expressions of MEK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were examined by Western blot. Results LINC00221 expression were highly expressed in HCC cell lines(P＜0.05).Compared with negative control group,the proliferation,migration and invasion abilities of siRNA-LINC00221 group were inhibited(P＜0.01).Rescue experiments showed that the proliferation,migration and invasion of siRNA-LINC00221+ERK activator group were promoted as compared with siRNA-LINC00221 group(P＜0.01).Compared with Negative control group,the expressions of MEK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were decreased in siRNA-LINC00221 group(P＜0.01).While MEK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 expression of siRNA-LINC00221+ERK activator group were increased as compared with siRNA-LINC00221 group(P＜0.01). Conclusion LINC00221 promotes HCC development via increasing activity of ERK/MEK pathway.LINC00221 may serve as a promising,novel therapeutic target in HCC.

Key words: hepatocellular carcinoma, LINC00221, invasion, migration, ERK signaling pathway