Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 14, 2019; 25(46): 6728-6742
Published online Dec 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i46.6728
Long non-coding RNA HULC as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of pancreatic cancer
Zheng-Lin Ou, Zhen Luo, Ye-Bin Lu
Zheng-Lin Ou, Zhen Luo, Ye-Bin Lu, Department of General Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Ou ZL designed the research; Lu YB performed the research; Luo Z contributed new reagents and analytic tools; Lu YB analyzed the data; Luo Z wrote the paper.
Supported by the Hunan Natural Science Youth Foundation, No. 2017JJ3508.
Institutional review board statement: The study was authorized by the Ethics Committee of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University.
Informed consent statement: All patients gave informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There was no competing interest.
Data sharing statement: All the data in the current research are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ye-Bin Lu, MD, Doctor, Department of General Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, No.87, Xiang Ya Road, Changsha 410008, Hunan Province, China. luyebin6@sina.com
Telephone: +86-0731-89753009 Fax: +86-0731-89753009
Received: September 24, 2019
Peer-review started: September 24, 2019
First decision: November 4, 2019
Revised: November 18, 2019
Accepted: November 29, 2019
Article in press: November 29, 2019
Published online: December 14, 2019
Processing time: 81 Days and 4.2 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Pancreatic cancer is a highly invasive malignant tumor in humans, which is relatively insidious in the early state and is usually confirmed in the late stage. Although significant progress has been made in the molecular diagnosis and treatment of tumors, pancreatic cancer still lacks effective biomarkers for prevention, diagnosis and prognosis. Thus, the identification of potential biomarkers related to the development, progression and prognosis of pancreatic cancer would be helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Research motivation

Long-chain non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer. In this study, we investigated the clinical value of lncRNA HULC in pancreatic cancer and determined its role in the progression of pancreatic cancer using in vitro experiments. However, the possible regulatory mechanism of HULC has not been well described.

Research objectives

This study aimed to determine the clinical value of HULC in pancreatic cancer and to identify its possible regulatory mechanism.

Research methods

RT-qPCR was employed to determine the expression of HULC in pancreatic cancer tissues, serum and cells. ROC curves were used to evaluate the clinical diagnostic value of serum HULC for pancreatic cancer, and Cox regression analysis was used to analyze prognostic factors in pancreatic cancer patients. Additionally, the CCK-8, flow cytometry, and Transwell assay were conducted to evaluate the proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. We found that HULC affected the biological function of pancreatic cancer cells through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Research results

Our results revealed that HULC was up-regulated in pancreatic cancer tissues, serum, and cells, and was an effective marker for diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. In addition, down-regulation of HULC inhibited the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells and induced apoptosis by inhibiting the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Research conclusions

Our study confirmed the clinical value of HULC in pancreatic cancer for the first time. HULC can affect the biological function of pancreatic cancer cells through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Therefore, HULC may play an important role in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer. These results can provide a theoretical basis for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of pancreatic cancer.

Research perspectives

Our research has proved the clinical value of HULC in pancreatic cancer and its possible regulatory mechanism. Future research may focus on the biological functions of potential target genes of HULC in vitro and in vivo, and the diagnostic and therapeutic effects of HULC in pancreatic cancer require verification in clinical practice.