Abstract
Lung cancer remains a critical health concern worldwide. Long noncoding RNAs with ultraconserved elements have recently been implicated in human tumorigenesis. The present study investigated the role of ultraconserved element 338 (uc.338) in the regulation of cell proliferation and metastasis in human lung cancer. Our data showed that the expression of uc.338 in lung cancer was remarkably increased in vivo and in vitro. Depletion of uc.338 with specific siRNA interference retarded the cell proliferative rate in lung cancer cell lines NCI-H929 and H1688. Furthermore, knockdown of uc.338 caused cell cycle arrest in the G(0)/G(1) phase in both cell lines. Transwell assays showed that inhibition of uc.338 notably decreased migration and invasion in NCI-H929 and H1688 cells. Moreover, uc.338 depletion decreased the expression of cyclin B1, Cdc25C, Snail, vimentin, and N-cadherin while increasing the protein level of E-cadherin, shown with Western blot analysis. These results suggested the pro-oncogenic potential of uc.338 in lung cancer, which might provide novel clues for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in the clinic.