Study results suggest that the novel long non-coding (lnc)RNA KMU15 could promote the proliferation and progression of bladder cancer (Clin Lab. 2019 Dec 1. Epub ahead of print).

“Chemotherapy constitutes one of the most important adjuvant treatments for bladder cancer. However, many patients usually develop chemoresistance during chemotherapy,” said Yinglong Huang, MD, PhD, Department of Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Yunnan Institute of Urology, Kunming, China, and colleagues.

“At present, lncRNA has been confirmed not only to be involved in tumorigenesis and progression, but also in tumor chemoresistance. However, the relationship between lncRNAs and chemoresistance of bladder cancer have been rarely reported,” they continued.

Using lncRNAs microarray and determination of IC50, Dr Huang et al screened for novel lncRNA-KMU15 in bladder cancer. In addition, they used qRT-PCR to assess KMU15 expression and evaluated clinical cases to establish the correlation between KMU15 and clinicopathologic parameters.

Findings confirmed a higher expression of KMU15 in bladder cancer tissues versus paired control tissues. They also demonstrated a significant positive correlation between KMU15 expression and the grade, stage, metastasis, and recurrence of bladder cancer.

Of note, a significantly negative correlation was observed between KMU15 expression and prognosis, leading the investigators to suggest that KMU15 knockdown could significantly inhibit bladder cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and chemoresistance.

“The novel lncRNA KMU15, which is highly expressed in bladder cancer tissues, could promote the proliferation and progression and was closely related to the malignant degree of bladder cancer. It could also significantly enhance the chemoresistance of bladder cancer cells,” reported Dr Huang and colleagues.

“Therefore, it was expected to be a new therapy target for bladder cancer and a potential prognosis biomarker for chemotherapy,” they concluded.—Hina Porcelli