Background: Bladder cancer is the fourth most common malignancy among men urinary system and it is a complex disease caused by genetic and environmental factors.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of hepatocellular carcinoma up-regulated long non-coding RNA (lncRNA HULC) on bladder cancer and to reveal the potential mechanisms.
Methods: The expression level of HULC in 276 bladder cancer patients was detected. The association of HULC level with patient recurrence was performed by Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test. Moreover, T24 and RT4 cells were transfected with HULC and ZIC2 targeted siRNAs, HULC expressing vector and corresponding controls. Subsequently, cell viability, apoptosis and tumorigenesis were examined.
Results: The expression level of HULC was increased in bladder cancer tissues. High expression of HULC was correlated with advanced clinical stage and lower recurrence-free rate. HULC was remarkably promoted cell viability but inhibited apoptosis, meanwhile conspicuously increased the expression of Cyclin A/D1/E and Bcl-2. Xenograft tumor model showed that HULC promoted tumor weights in vivo.
Conclusions: LncRNA HULC promoted bladder cancer cells proliferation and inhibited apoptosis.
Keywords: Bladder cancer; PI3K/AKT; ZIC2; cell apoptosis; cell proliferation; lncRNA HULC.