High lncRNA HULC expression is associated with poor prognosis and promotes tumor progression by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer

INTRODUCTION: Recently, increasing evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumor progression and development. However, the expression pattern and biological function of lncRNA HULC (highly upregulated in liver cancer) in prostate cancer (PCa) remain largely unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The expression of lncRNA HULC in 53 paired PCa tissues and cell lines was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The χ(2) test was used to explore the association of lncRNA HULC expression with clinicopathologic features. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to detect the association between HULC expression and overall survival of PCa patients. Furthermore, the function of HULC in cell growth and metastasis was detected in PCa cells. RESULTS: Our data showed that HULC expression was upregulated in PCa tissues and cell lines compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues and the normal prostate cell line RWPE-1 (p < 0.05). High HULC expression was positively associated with advanced clinicopathologic features and poor overall survival (OS) for PCa patients (p < 0.05). HULC inhibition suppressed PCa cell growth and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo (p < 0.05). Furthermore, HULC knockdown reduced N-cadherin and vimentin expression and increased E-cadherin expression in PCa cells (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggested that lncRNA HULC might play oncogenic roles in PCa progression, which provided a novel therapeutic strategy for PCa patients.