Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a type of otolaryngological malignancy with high incidence. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are closely related to nasopharyngeal carcinoma. LncRNA AFAP1-AS1 (AFAP1-AS1) has been found to play important roles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression and poor prognosis. However, the mechanism underlying AFAP1-AS1 in regulating nasopharyngeal carcinoma is still unclear. In current study, AFAP1-AS1 was found to be up-regulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and cells. AFAP1-AS1 overexpression and knockdown were conducted in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. The results proved that AFAP1-AS1 promoted the survival and migration of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Additionally, specificity protein 1 (SP1) was enhanced in nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissues and cells, and induced AFAP1-AS1 expression. The interaction between AFAP1-AS1 and miR-497-5p was confirmed. AFAP1-AS1 was demonstrated to regulate CELF1, a target gene of miR-497-5p. Further functional analysis revealed that AFAP1-AS1 knockdown attenuated SP1-induced nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression. These results indicate that SP1-induced AFAP1-AS1 facilitates nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression by regulating miR-497-5p/CELF1 pathway, which provides a new target for nasopharyngeal carcinoma treatment.

鼻咽癌是耳鼻喉科恶性肿瘤中发病率较高的一类。长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）与鼻咽癌密切相关。 LncRNA AFAP1-AS1 (AFAP1-AS1)被发现在鼻咽癌进展和不良预后中发挥重要作用。然而，AFAP1-AS1调控鼻咽癌的机制仍不清楚。目前的研究发现，AFAP1-AS1在鼻咽癌组织和细胞中表达上调。在鼻咽癌细胞中进行 AFAP1-AS1 过表达和敲低。结果证明AFAP1-AS1促进鼻咽癌细胞的存活和迁移。此外，特异性蛋白1（SP1）在鼻咽癌组织和细胞中增强，并诱导AFAP1-AS1表达。 AFAP1-AS1 和 miR-497-5p 之间的相互作用得到证实。 AFAP1-AS1 被证明可以调节 miR-497-5p 的靶基因 CELF1。进一步的功能分析表明，AFAP1-AS1 敲低可减弱 SP1 诱导的鼻咽癌进展。这些结果表明SP1诱导的AFAP1-AS1通过调节miR-497-5p/CELF1通路促进鼻咽癌进展，为鼻咽癌的治疗提供了新的靶点。