Uc.206 regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis by targeting P53 in cervical cancer cells

Ultraconserved regions (UCRs) are non-protein coding gene sequences with strict conserved across among different species. Emerging evidence demonstrates that UCRs encoding noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) serve as regulators of gene expression. In recent decades, increasing evidence implicates the involvement of UCRs in carcinogenesis. Previous studies showed RNA expression of uc.206 was increased in colorectal cancer. Until now, the role of uc.206 in cervical cancers remains undefined. This study revealed that uc.206 is significantly up-regulated in cervical cancer (CC) tissue and negatively correlates with the expression of the pro-apoptotic gene P53 in RNA level. We show that uc.206 specifically targets the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of P53 and regulates its expression. Inhibition of uc.206 effectively delays cervical cells proliferation and promotes apoptosis, accompanied by increased expression of P53 protein. Thus, these findings suggested that uc.206 acts as a novel oncogene by targeting the P53 gene and promoting CC cell growth, which might be beneficial for cervical cancer therapy.