Cholangiocarcinoma is a highly aggressive malignant
tumor disease with the increasing incidence and mortality. It's urgent to identify specific
biomarkers for
cholangiocarcinoma treatment and diagnosis. Recent studies have noted the importance of lncRNAs in
cancer and the following downstream mechanism with
miRNAs network has been a hotspot. This work aimed to discover the role of
lncRNA HCG18 and its possible downstream mechanism in
cholangiocarcinoma tumor progression. Initially, through bioinformatics tools, we observed abnormal expression of
lncRNA HCG18 in
cholangiocarcinoma. In vitro experiments like (CCK-8, EdU, colony formation, flow cytometry, transwell, wound healing assays) and animal study confirmed that
lncRNA HCG18 served as a
cancer-promoting gene, promoted
cancer proliferation, migration and invasion abilities. Besides, we found
cancer cell-secreted exosomes transitted HCG18 to surrounding
tumor cells and accelerated
tumor growth and
metastasis. After that, we confirmed HCG18 directly interacted with miR-424-5p through FISH, RIP and dual
luciferase reporter assays with negative modulation. The inhibition of miR-424-5p reversed the HCG18 knockdown induced suppression on
cholangiocarcinoma cancer cells. More specific, miR-424-5p targeted to SOX9 contributed to
cholangiocarcinoma growth and
metastasis through mediating PI3K/AKT pathway. In conclusion, these findings provide solid evidence of lncRNAs/
miRNAs regulation in
cholangiocarcinoma progression.