Abstract: Objective To explore the expression of urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) in pancreatic cancer cell lines and its influence on the invasion and metastasis of the pancreatic cancer cells. Methods The expression of UCA1 in pancreatic cancer tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues (11 cases) and 5 pancreatic cancer cell lines was analyzed by real-time PCR. The level of UCA1 in BxPC-3 was knocked down by small interfering RNA. The ability of invasion and migration in vitro of transfected BxPC-3 was detected by Transwell invasion assay and wound healing assay. The protein level of MMP2 and MMP9 was measured by Western blot experiment. Results The expression level of UCA1 in pancreatic cancer tissues was higher than that in paired adjacent normal tissues, and UCA1 differentially expressed in 5 pancreatic cancer cell lines. Down-regulation of UCA1 by siRNA suppressed the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in BxPC3, and dramatically impaired the ability of invasion and migration of BxPC-3. Conclusion UCA1 is over-expressed in pancreatic cancer, and down-regulation of UCA1 attenuates the capacity of invasion and metastasis in vitro of BxPC-3 by decreasing MMP2 and MMP9.

Key words: Pancreatic neoplasm, Neoplasm invasion, Neoplasm metastasis, Long non-coding RNA, Urothelial carcinoma-associated 1