Up-regulation of lncRNA HULC predicts a poor prognosis and promotes growth and metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer

Introduction: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play essential roles during tumorigenesis. Aberrant expression of lncRNA HULC has been declared in types of tumors. However, the function and underlying mechanism of HULC in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unclear. Methods: The relative expression level of lncRNA HULC was determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in a total of 58 NSCLC patients and 4 lung cancer cell lines. The prognostic significance was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analyses. Biological function of HULC was explored by cell proliferation assay, migration assay and invasion assay. Furthermore, western blot was used to determine the activity of PI3K/Akt pathway in si-HULC transfected NSCLC cells. Results: Our findings showed that lncRNA HULC was significantly increased in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. Upregulation of HULC was significantly associated with poor tumor differentiation, advanced pathological stage and lymph-node metastasis. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that NSCLC patients with high HULC expression had shorter overall survival times. Additionally, the results of in vitro assays showed that suppression of HULC expression in NSCLC cells significantly reduced cell proliferation, migration and invasion ability. Moreover, we confirmed that the activity of PI3K/Akt pathway was suppressed in si-HULC transfected NSCLC cells. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that lncRNA HULC played a critical role in NSCLC tumorigenesis and could act as a novel prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in the treatment of NSCLC.