Long non-coding RNA HULC affects the proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of mesenchymal stem cells

Further studies on the molecular mechanisms of mesenchymal stem cells in the maintenance of growth and function are essential for their clinical application. Growing evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the regulation of mesenchymal stem cells. Recently, it is reported that highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC), with another lncRNA MALAT-1, accelerated liver cancer stem cell growth. The regulating role of MALAT-1 in mesenchymal stem cells has been investigated. However, the effects of HULC on the mesenchymal stem cells are unknown. In this study, we overexpressed HULC in mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cord and analyzed the cell phenotypes, proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. We found that overexpression of HULC significantly promotes cell proliferation through promoting cell division and inhibits cell apoptosis. HULC-overexpressed mesenchymal stem cells migrate and invade faster than control mesenchymal stem cells. HULC has no effect on phenotypes and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Furthermore, we found that the expression of HULC in mesenchymal stem cells could be reduced by several inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, TGF-β1, and R848. Taken together, our data demonstrated that HULC has a vital role in the growth and function maintenance of mesenchymal stem cells without affecting differentiation.