Study on the up-regulated lncRNA UCA1 as prognostic biomarker of severe pneumonia and its possible regulatory mechanism.

AIMS: To examine urothelial cancer-associated 1 (UCA1) expression in severe pneumonia children and explore its regulatory role in this condition. PATIENTS & METHODS: Seventy-eight healthy children and 84 children with severe pneumonia were included. Serum UCA1 expressions were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. The sensitivity and specificity of UCA1 for the diagnosis of severe pneumonia were appraised by the receiver operating characteristic curve. The prognosis and factors affecting the prognosis were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier survival curve and multivariate Cox regression. A luciferase reporter assay assessed the targeting interaction between UCA1 and miR-185-5p. RESULTS: Serum UCA1 level in patients with severe pneumonia was higher than that in controls. The sensitivity and specificity of UCA1 for severe pneumonia were 82.1% and 85.9%, respectively. Children with high UCA1 expression had lower overall survival than children with low UCA1 expression, and UCA1 and procalcitonin were prognosis risk factors. Cell experiments suggested that inhibition of UCA1 reversed LPS-induced decline in cell viability and increased apoptosis and inflammatory factors. UCA1 directly targeted miR-185-5p in MRC-5 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Abnormal elevated UCA1 demonstrated good clinical diagnostic and prognostic meaning for severe pneumonia. UCA1 May have effects on the regulation of cell function and inflammatory response by combining with miR-185-5p.