Nousiopoulou Eleni, Vrettou Kleio, Damaskos Christos, Garmpis Nikolaos, Garmpi Anna, Tsikouras Panagiotis, Nikolettos Nikolaos, Nikolettos Konstantinos, Psilopatis Iason
Second Department of Propedeutic Surgery, Laiko General Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Department of Cytopathology, Sismanogleio General Hospital, 15126 Athens, Greece.
Curr Issues Mol Biol. 2024 Mar 21;46(3):2772-2797. doi: 10.3390/cimb46030174.
Gynecological cancers (GC) represent some of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies in women worldwide. Long-non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are regulatory RNAs increasingly being recognized for their role in tumor progression and metastasis in various cancers. Urothelial cancer-associated 1 (UCA1) is a lncRNA, first found deregulated in bladder cancer, and many studies have exposed its oncogenic effects in more tumors since. However, the role of UCA1 in gynecological malignancies is still unclear. This review aims to analyze and define the role of UCA1 in GC, in order to identify its potential use as a diagnostic, prognostic, or therapeutic biomarker of GC. By employing the search terms "UCA1", "breast cancer", "endometrial cancer", "ovarian cancer", "cervical cancer", "vaginal cancer", and "vulvar cancer" in the PubMed database for the literature review, we identified a total of sixty-three relevant research articles published between 2014 and 2024. Although there were some opposing results, UCA1 was predominantly found to be upregulated in most of the breast, endometrial, ovarian, cervical, and vulvar cancer cells, tissue samples, and mouse xenograft models. UCA1 overexpression mainly accounts for enhanced tumor proliferation and increased drug resistance, while also being associated with some clinicopathological features, such as a high histological grade or poor prognosis. Nonetheless, no reviews were identified about the involvement of UCA1 in vaginal carcinogenesis. Therefore, further clinical trials are required to explore the role of UCA1 in these malignancies and, additionally, examine its possible application as a target for upcoming treatments, or as a novel biomarker for GC diagnosis and prognosis.
妇科癌症（GC）是全球女性中最常被诊断出的恶性肿瘤之一。长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）作为调控RNA，其在各种癌症的肿瘤进展和转移中的作用日益受到认可。尿路上皮癌相关1（UCA1）是一种lncRNA，最初在膀胱癌中被发现失调，此后许多研究揭示了它在更多肿瘤中的致癌作用。然而，UCA1在妇科恶性肿瘤中的作用仍不清楚。本综述旨在分析和界定UCA1在妇科癌症中的作用，以确定其作为妇科癌症诊断、预后或治疗生物标志物的潜在用途。通过在PubMed数据库中使用搜索词“UCA1”、“乳腺癌”、“子宫内膜癌”、“卵巢癌”、“宫颈癌”、“阴道癌”和“外阴癌”进行文献综述，我们共识别出2014年至2024年间发表的63篇相关研究文章。尽管存在一些相反的结果，但在大多数乳腺癌、子宫内膜癌、卵巢癌、宫颈癌和外阴癌细胞、组织样本以及小鼠异种移植模型中，主要发现UCA1表达上调。UCA1过表达主要导致肿瘤增殖增强和耐药性增加，同时还与一些临床病理特征相关，如高组织学分级或预后不良。然而，未发现有关UCA1参与阴道致癌作用的综述。因此，需要进一步的临床试验来探索UCA1在这些恶性肿瘤中的作用，并另外研究其作为未来治疗靶点或作为妇科癌症诊断和预后新型生物标志物的可能应用。
