Increased expression of lncRNA CASC9 promotes tumor progression by suppressing autophagy-mediated cell apoptosis via the AKT/mTOR pathway in oral squamous cell carcinoma

a RT-qPCR results showed that CASC9 expression was significantly increased in OSCC tissues compared with paired adjacent tissues (N？=？35). b RT-qPCR results showed that CASC9 expression was significantly increased in TSCCA, SCC15 and CAL27 OSCC cells compared to the normal oral mucosal HOMEC cells. c The ISH results showed that the expression level of CASC9 in OSCC tissues was significantly higher compared with the paired adjacent tissues (N？=？84; scale bars？=？200？μm). d The mean overall survival time of OSCC patients with a high expression level of CASC9 was significantly lower compared with patients with a low expression level. e IHC analysis showed that the expression of p-AKT was significantly increased in OSCC tissues compared with matched para-carcinoma tissues, and the expression level of LC3 B in OSCC tissues was significantly decreased (N？=？84; scale bars？=？200 μm). f CASC9 expression levels are positively correlated with p-AKT and negatively correlated with LC3B in OSCC tissues (N？=？84). All data represent three independent experiments. Data are presented as the mean？±？SD (n？≥？3). *P？<？0.05, **P？<？0.01, ***P？<？0.001, ****P？<？0.000