Overexpression of long noncoding RNA CUDR promotes hepatic differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells

Previous studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are capable of regulating cell differentiation and pluripotency. The objective of the present study was to explore the effect of lncRNA cancer upregulated drug resistant (CUDR) on the hepatic differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HuMSCs). HuMSCs were subjected to a hepatogenic differentiation protocol. The level of CUDR was monitored by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) following certain stages of hepatic differentiation. Lentivirus transfection was used to achieve CUDR overexpression. The hepatocyte-related proteins and mRNAs were then examined by immunofluorescence, ELISA and RT-qPCR analyses. The results showed that CUDR was upregulated during the hepatic differentiation of HuMSCs. Upregulation of CUDR can improve hepatic differentiation of HuMSCs, including hepatocyte-related genes and proteins. In addition, it was also found that liver-enriched transcription factors were upregulated after CUDR overexpression. Moreover, there was an association between the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and CUDR. In summary, these results demonstrated that the overexpression of CUDR could improve the hepatic differentiation of HuMSCs, therefore it could be an ideal source for regenerative therapy.