Long Non-coding RNA UCA1 Regulates SRPK1 Expression Through miR- 99b-3p in Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian carcinoma (OC) is one of the most common malignancies of the female reproductive organs, with a low survival rate primarily due to the lack of effective methods for early diagnosis and prognosis.

In this article, our motivation is to explore the lncRNA-related network mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of OC.

Public lncRNAs and mRNA expression datasets for OC were collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. By integrated bioinformatics analysis, we constructed a UCA1-miRNA-mRNA network. We studied lncRNA-related molecular modulation mechanism in ovarian cancer cells based on MTT assay, dual luciferase reporter gene assays, quantitative realtime PCR, and western blotting.

UCA1 was higher in ovarian tumor tissues and cells than normal tissues and cells. It was demonstrated in this study that knockdown of UCA1 inhibited ovarian cancer cell viability, which a miR-99b-3p inhibitor could reverse in vitro. Further, UCA1 was shown to regulate the expression of SRPK1 by directly binding to miR-99b-3p.

These results suggest that UCA1 functions as an oncogene in ovarian cancer. Inhibition of UCA1/miR-99b-3p/SRPK1 axis may become a novel target for treating ovarian cancer.