Abstract
The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) has been recently shown to be dysregulated during disease occurrence and to play an important role in the progression of several cancers. However, the biological role and potential regulation mechanism of UCA1 in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer remain unclear. In the present study, we found that UCA1 was aberrantly upregulated in gastric cancer tissues and gastric cancer cell lines, and was associated with TNM stage and metastasis. UCA1 silencing significantly inhibited gastric cancer BGC-823 cell proliferation and increased its apoptosis. We also found that UCA1 played an important role in the migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The molecular mechanism of UCA1 suggested that UCA1 regulates the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling proteins and their downstream mediators, to alter gastric cancer progression in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, the results showed a pivotal role of UCA1 in the tumorigenesis of gastric cancer. In addition, the study characterized a novel lncRNA-mRNA regulatory network, which may lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of gastric cancer and assist in lncRNA-directed diagnosis and therapy for this malignancy.
Highlights
Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world
The expression level of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) was determined in 102 paired gastric cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues by qRT-PCR
The results showed that compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues, the expression of UCA1 showed a significant gradual increase from the TNM (I/II) to the TNM (III/IV) stages of gastric cancer (Figure 1B)
Summary
Approximately 1 million patients are diagnosed with gastric cancer, and approximately 0.75 million patients die from this disorder [1]. Improvements in the efficiency of early stage gastric cancer diagnosis and validation, and identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers are the important research objectives. These objectives can be accomplished by investigating the pathogenesis and identification of the genetic changes, to find diagnostic markers that can be used in novel effective therapies and treatments for the prevention of gastric cancer. Identification of differentially expressed lncRNAs in gastric cancer, and further characterization of their functions and mechanisms is important in the diagnoses and identification of prognostic biomarkers for this disorder
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