Upregulation of long non-coding RNA urothelial carcinoma associated 1 by CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α contributes to bladder cancer cell growth and reduced apoptosis

Long non-coding RNA urothelial carcinoma associated 1 (lncRNA-UCA1) is upregulated in bladder cancer and plays a pivotal role in bladder cancer progression and metastasis. Recent studies and our research found that lncRNA-UCA1 may be an important biomarker and therapeutic target for bladder cancer. However, the molecular mechanism involved in the upregulation of lncRNA-UCA1 in bladder cancer is largely unknown. In the present study, we showed that lncRNA-UCA1 expression in bladder cancer cells was upregulated by transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBP alpha), which was the only candidate transcription factor simultaneously predicted by a total of five bioinformatical software programs. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay indicated that C/EBP alpha bound to the lncRNA-UCA1 core promoter region in vitro and in vivo. The luciferase assays further showed that there was a point mutation (A231G) in the C/EBP alpha binding site of the lncRNA-UCA1 core promoter in various bladder cancer cell lines, which in turn significantly increased the transcriptional activity of lncRNA-UCA1. We also demonstrated that C/EBP alpha siRNA treatment contributed to the downregulation of lncRNA-UCA1 expression, whereas overexpression of C/EBP alpha enhanced lncRNA-UCA1 expression. Furthermore, lncRNA-UCA1 transcriptional repression by C/EBP alpha siRNA sharply reduced cell viability and induced cell apoptosis in vitro. Collectively, our results provide a novel therapeutic strategy for bladder cancer by effectively interrupting the binding of the lncRNA-UCA1 promoter and certain transcription factors, so as to reverse the upregulation of lncRNA-UCA1 and prevent bladder cancer progression.