Abstract
Liver cancer is one of the most common malignancies in the world and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Accumulating evidence has highlighted the critical role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in various cancers. The present study aimed to explore the role of lncRNA urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) in cell growth and migration in MHCC97 cells and its underlying mechanism. First, we assessed the expression of UCA1 in MHCC97 and three other cell lines by RT-qPCR. Then the expression of UCA1, miR-301a, and CXCR4 in MHCC97 cells was altered by transient transfection. The effects of UCA1 and miR-301 on cell viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis were assessed. The results revealed that UCA1 expression was relatively higher in MHCC97 cells than in MG63, hFOB1.19, and OS-732 cells. Knockdown of UCA1 reduced cell viability, inhibited migration and invasion, and promoted cell apoptosis. However, the effect of UCA1 knockdown on cell growth and migration was blocked by miR-301a overexpression, whose expression was regulated by UCA1. We also found that miR-301a positively regulated CXCR4 expression. CXCR4 inhibition reversed the effect of miR-301a overexpression on cell growth and migration. Moreover, miR-301a activated the Wnt/β-catenin and NF-κB pathways via regulating CXCR4. The present study demonstrated that UCA1 inhibition exerted an antigrowth and antimigration role in MHCC97 cells through regulating miR-301a and CXCR4 expression.