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Emerging evidence indicates that non-coding RNAs, such as lncRNAs and microRNAs, play important roles in diverse diseases, such as cancer, immune diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Interestingly, lncRNAs could directly or indirectly regulate the expression of miRNAs. However, the expression profiling of miRNAs associated with UCA1 in bladder cancer remains unknown. Here, we used Illumina deep sequencing to sequence miRNA libraries from both the UCA1 knockdown and normal high-expression 5637 cells. We identified 225 and 235 miRNAs expressed in 5637 cells of normal high-expression and knockdown of UCA1, respectively. Overall, expression of 75 miRNAs showed significant difference associated with UCA1, of which 38 were upregulated and 37 downregulated with UCA1 knockdown. GO analysis of the host target genes revealed that these aberrantly regulated miRNAs were involved in complex cellular pathways, including biological process, cellular component and molecular function. We selected 8 candidate miRNAs associated with UCA1 and predicted their targeted mRNAs, and found that p27kip1 was a crucial downstream molecule for these 8 miRNAs, especially for miR-196a. KEGG pathway analysis showed that PI3K-Akt signaling pathway was involved in regulating these 8 candidant miRNAs. Among these 8 candidant miRNAs, we observed the correlation among UCA1, miR-196a and the host target mRNA, p27kip1, in bladder cancer cells and tissues. UCA1 was upregulated by miR-196a and positively correlated with miR-196a, whereas UCA1 and miR-196a were negatively correlated with p27kip1, which was downregulated in bladder cancer patients. Thus, our findings provided valuable information on miRNAs associated with UCA1 in bladder cancer, which could be helpful to further explore the related genes and molecular networks fundamental in bladder cancer progression.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been recognized as a regulator of gene expression, and the deregulation of lncRNAs have been reported to be correlated with carcinogenesis and cancer progression. To explore the function of lncRNA in endometrial carcinoma, we analyzed the expression profiles of lncRNAs and coding genes in 3 paired endometrial carcinoma and adjacent non-tumor tissues, using a microarray. The results of microarray analysis indicated a significant difference in lncRNA and coding gene expression between endometrial carcinoma and their paired adjacent non-tumor tissues. A total of 53 lncRNAs (fold change >2.0, p-value <0.05) were found to be differently expressed in endometrial carcinoma compared to the normal controls. Among these ASLNC04080 was the most significantly upregulated lncRNA in microarray data, highly expressed in 22 out of 24 endometrial carcinoma tissues and HEC-1-B cell line. ASLNC04080 is 1867nt in length, consist of 6 exons, and locates at 1 p35.3(chr1: -28905061 - -28909492). In addition, 46 coding gene transcripts were differentially expressed (fold change >2.0, p-value <0.05) between endometrial carcinoma and adjacent non-tumor tissues. Pathway and gene ontology analysis demonstrated that these deregulated transcripts were involved in multiple signal pathways, biological processes, cellular components and molecular functions. Moreover, the ASLNC04080 lncRNA expression was correlated with 19 coding genes, and may contribute to endometrial carcinoma genesis and progression by co-regulating with coding gene. Expression inhibition of lncRNA ASLNC04080 in HEC-1-B cells caused repression of cell proliferation, increased cell apoptosis, and G1 phase arrest. These results suggested a potential function of ASLNC04080 in endometrial carcinoma genesis and progression.

Long non-coding RNA urothelial carcinoma associated 1 (lncRNA-UCA1) is upregulated in bladder cancer and plays a pivotal role in bladder cancer progression and metastasis. Recent studies and our research found that lncRNA-UCA1 may be an important biomarker and therapeutic target for bladder cancer. However, the molecular mechanism involved in the upregulation of lncRNA-UCA1 in bladder cancer is largely unknown. In the present study, we showed that lncRNA-UCA1 expression in bladder cancer cells was upregulated by transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα), which was the only candidate transcription factor simultaneously predicted by a total of five bioinformatical software programs. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay indicated that C/EBPα bound to the lncRNA-UCA1 core promoter region in vitro and in vivo. The luciferase assays further showed that there was a point mutation (A231G) in the C/EBPα binding site of the lncRNA-UCA1 core promoter in various bladder cancer cell lines, which in turn significantly increased the transcriptional activity of lncRNA-UCA1. We also demonstrated that C/EBPα siRNA treatment contributed to the downregulation of lncRNA-UCA1 expression, whereas overexpression of C/EBPα enhanced lncRNA-UCA1 expression. Furthermore, lncRNA-UCA1 transcriptional repression by C/EBPα siRNA sharply reduced cell viability and induced cell apoptosis in vitro. Collectively, our results provide a novel therapeutic strategy for bladder cancer by effectively interrupting the binding of the lncRNA-UCA1 promoter and certain transcription factors, so as to reverse the upregulation of lncRNA-UCA1 and prevent bladder cancer progression.

B7-H1 is a co-inhibitory molecule belonging to the B7 family. The B7-H1 protein is only expressed on macrophage lineage of cells in normal tissues, but is overexpressed in most types of tumor. The aberrant expression of cell surface B7-H1 on cancer cells is generally associated with high-risk prognostic factors. The tumor-associated B7-H1 increases apoptosis of antigen-specific T cells through interaction with its receptor PD-1 on CD8+ T cells and contributes to tumor immune evasion. These features suggest that B7-H1 may be a therapeutic target for the B7-H1-expressing tumors. We developed a therapeutic vaccine by coupling a tetanus toxoid T-helper cell epitope with the N-terminal of B7-H1 IgV-like domain. This vaccine was able to induce high titers of antibodies against B7-H1 in mice which were able to bind to native cell surface B7-H1. We chose the B7-H1-expressing SP2/0 myeloma and its syngeneic host (the BALB/c mouse) as the model to study the antitumor activity of the rhB7-H1M vaccine. Vaccination with this modified B7-H1 protein resulted in almost complete protection from SP2/0 tumor challenge and efficiently eliminated pre-established tumors in mice. In addition, B7-H1 vaccination was able to decrease the percentage of CD4+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in tumor-bearing mice and which might improve antitumor immunity. These data demonstrate the potential of B7-H1-based vaccine as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of cancer overexpressing B7-H1.

Our previous studies identified UCA1 as a novel biomarker for bladder cancer and detected three variant transcripts of UCA1 in the human bladder TCC cell line BLZ-211 using northern blot analysis. One (1.4 kb) of the three transcripts has been shown to play a pivotal role in bladder cancer progression and embryonic development. In this study, we cloned a second transcript (2.2 kb), designated UCA1a, which was identical to previously reported cancer upregulated drug resistant gene (CUDR). Sequence comparison of UCA1 (1.4 kb transcript) and UCA1a(CUDR) cDNA revealed a 1,265 bp common region. Previous studies have demonstrated that CUDR is upregulated in various human tumors, including colon, cervical and lung cancer. However, the exact role of UCA1a(CUDR) in bladder cancer has not yet been reported. In this study, RT-PCR analysis indicated that UCA1a(CUDR) was also an embryonic development and bladder cancer-associated RNA. Overexpression of UCA1a(CUDR) significantly enhanced proliferation, migration and invasion of the bladder cancer cell line UM-UC-2. Moreover, microarray analysis demonstrated that overexpression of UCA1a(CUDR) was associated with signaling pathways regulating cell apoptosis and tumorigenesis. Furthermore, overexpression of UCA1a(CUDR) could antagonize cell apoptosis induced by cisplatin and promote the tumorigenicity of UM-UC-2 cells in vivo. Taken together, our data strongly suggest that similar to the 1.4 kb transcript of UCA1, UCA1a(CUDR) may also play an important role in the growth and tumorigenesis of human bladder cancer, and their common region may be critical for biological activity, thereby indicating that their common region may serve as a new therapeutic target for bladder cancer.