title: Long non-coding RNA UCA1 regulates the expression of Snail2 by miR-203 to promote hepatocellular carcinoma progression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) is reported to be dysregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. However, the functions of UCA1 in HCC still need further study. The aim is to detect the role of UCA1 involving in HCC cells proliferation and invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).
  
  
  METHODS
  The quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the UCA1 and miR-203 expression levels in 60 cases' HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Western blotting analysis was performed to detect the EMT markers E-cadherin, Vimentin and transcription factor Snail1, Snail2 expression. Luciferase reporter assay, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and pull-down assays were used to evaluate whether miR-203 was a target of UCA1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed that UCA1 was markedly upregulated in HCC tissues and higher UCA1 expression in HCC was positively associated with tumor size, vascular invasion and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage (P < 0.05). Furthermore, gain-of-function and loss-of-function analysis showed that UCA1 knockdown inhibited HCC cells proliferation and invasion in vitro and xenograft tumour growth in vivo. Moreover, UCA1 overexpression promoted cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HCC via effectively sponging to miR-203 and thereby activating the expression of transcription factor Snail2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results identified that UCA1/miR-203/Snail2 pathway might involve in HCC progression. Inhibition of UCA1 acted as a promising therapeutic target for HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.|Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Ji-Nan
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Ting-Hua
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Rui-Ming
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.|Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Long
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.|Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Sui-Wan
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.|Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Xing
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Que
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.|Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China.
authors.forename: Ze-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Internal Medicine, Humanity Hospital of Longyan City, Longyan, 364000, Fujian, China. jiangjinhua1010@163.com.
authors.forename: Jin-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics; D018450:Disease Progression; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000502:physiology*; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: C546703:MIRN203 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; C000604407:SNAI1 protein, human; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; C515159:UCA1 RNA, human
keywords: Epithelial–mesenchymal transition; Snail2; Urothelial carcinoma-associated 1; miR-203