Long noncoding RNA linc-UBC1 is negative prognostic factor and exhibits tumor pro-oncogenic activity in gastric cancer

Despite the advances in the management of gastric cancer, the prognosis of advanced gastric cancer remains relatively poor. Thus, it is of urgent need to identify novel prognostic markers and therapeutic targets of gastric cancer. A growing volume of literature has indicated that lncRNAs are differentially expressed in a diverse array of cancer and play an important role in the development of cancer. Linc-UBC1, a recently identified long noncoding RNA, was initially found to be upregulated in bladder cancer. However, the role of linc-UBC1 in gastric cancer remains to be elusive. In this study, we found that linc-UBC1 was significantly upregulated in gastric cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. Furthermore, high linc-UBC1 expression was associated with lymph-node metastasis, tumor size, TNM stage and poorer prognosis. Inhibition of linc-UBC1 suppressed the proliferation, motility and invasion of gastric cancer cells. Our study suggests that linc-UBC1 may represent a novel diagnostic, prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target of gastric cancer.