Fig. 1

MSC-AS1 was upregulated in NPC, silence of MSC-AS1 controlled proliferation and activated apoptosis in NPC cells. a Expression profile of MSC-AS1 in HNSC samples or adjacent non-tumor samples in GEPIA database. b Survival analysis of HNSC patients with high or low MSC-AS1 expression in GEPIA database. c RT-qPCR data of MSC-AS1 level in NPC tissues and adjacent non-tumorous tissues. d Overall survival of patients with high or low MSC-AS1 expression enrolled in this study was analyzed with Kaplan–Meier method. e RT-qPCR results of MSC-AS1 level in NPC cells and two nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. f RT-qPCR confirmed the knockdown efficiency of MSC-AS1 in CNE-1 and 5-8F cells. (g–i) The data of CCK-8, colony formation and EdU (scale bar = 200 μm) showed the proliferation of CNE-1 and 5-8F cells transfected with sh-NC, sh-MSC-AS1#1, or sh-MSC-AS1#2. (j–k) Apoptosis of CNE-1 and 5-8F cells under MSC-AS1 silence was detected by caspase-3 activity and TUNEL staining (scale bar = 200 μm). ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01