A novel lncRNA derived from an ultraconserved region: lnc-uc.147, a potential biomarker in luminal A breast cancer

Erika Pereira Zambalde, Recep Bayraktar, Tayana Schultz Jucoski, Cristina Ivan, Ana Carolina Rodrigues, Carolina Mathias, Erik knutsen, Rubens Silveira de Lima, Daniela Fiori Gradia, Enilze Maria de Souza Fonseca Ribeiro, Samir Hannash, George Adrian Calin, Jaqueline Carvalhode Oliveira

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The human genome contains 481 ultraconserved regions (UCRs), which are genomic stretches of over 200 base pairs conserved among human, rat, and mouse. The majority of these regions are transcriptionally active (T-UCRs), and several have been found to be differentially expressed in tumours. Some T-UCRs have been functionally characterized, but of those few have been associated to breast cancer (BC). Using TCGA data, we found 302 T-UCRs related to clinical features in BC: 43% were associated with molecular subtypes, 36% with oestrogen-receptor positivity, 17% with HER2 expression, 12% with stage, and 10% with overall survival. The expression levels of 12 T-UCRs were further analysed in a cohort of 82 Brazilian BC patients using RT-qPCR. We found that uc.147 is high expressed in luminal A and B patients. For luminal A, a subtype usually associated with better prognosis, high uc.147 expression was associated with a poor prognosis and suggested as an independent prognostic factor. The lncRNA from uc.147 (lnc-uc.147) is located in the nucleus. Northern blotting results show that uc.147 is a 2,8 kb monoexonic trancript, and its sequence was confirmed by RACE. The silencing of uc.147 increases apoptosis, arrests cell cycle, and reduces cell viability and colony formation in BC cell lines. Additionally, we identifed 19 proteins that interact with lnc-uc.147 through mass spectrometry and demonstrated a high correlation of lnc-uc.147 with the neighbour gene expression and miR-18 and miR-190b. This is the first study to analyse the expression of all T-UCRs in BC and to functionally assess the lnc-uc.147.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)416-429
Number of pages14
JournalRNA Biology
Volume18
Issue numberS1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • T-UCRs
  • breast cancer
  • lncRNAs
  • tumorigenesis
  • uc.147
  • ultraconserved region

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A novel lncRNA derived from an ultraconserved region: lnc-uc.147, a potential biomarker in luminal A breast cancer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this