Abstract 979: Identification of a novel long noncoding RNA within the LCK gene locus that regulates prostate cancer cell growth

Prostate cancer remains the second most common type of cancer and frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in American men. Even though many patients with metastatic prostate cancer will initially respond to androgen deprivation therapy, virtually all patients will relapse and develop lethal castration-resistant prostate cancer. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as critical regulatory elements of many cellular biological processes, and there is increasing evidence demonstrating that dysregulation of lncRNAs is associated with many human cancers, including cancers of the prostate, breast, and lung. We have discovered in a high-throughput RNAi screen identifying regulators of prostate cancer cell growth that knockdown of lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase (LCK) significantly decreases growth of prostate cancer cells in the presence and absence of androgen. Surprisingly, immunoprecipitation and western blot analyses show that LCK is not expressed at the protein level in prostate cancer cells. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and sequencing have revealed that a previously unannotated lncRNA lies within exon six and the 3’UTR of the LCK gene. While short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) targeting the carboxy-terminus of the LCK gene decreases cell growth, expression of shRNAs specific for the amino-terminus has no effect on growth. Furthermore, only quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) primers directed toward the 3’ section of the LCK gene yield detectable levels of transcript. These data provide further validation for the existence of a lncRNA within the LCK gene locus. Remarkably, the lncRNA situated within the LCK gene is dramatically upregulated in response to androgen. Therefore, we have labeled this lncRNA “HULLK” for Hormone-upregulated lncRNA within LCK. Cellular fractionation and qPCR show that HULLK predominantly localizes to the cytoplasm. In addition to the effects on prostate cancer cell growth, we have data that alludes to the increase in transcript levels of several Src family members following depletion of HULLK. Thus, these studies indicate that the LCK gene contains a lncRNA involved in the regulation of prostate cancer cell growth and perhaps transcription. While additional analyses will be required to fully characterize HULLK, our data suggest that it may serve as a novel regulator of prostate cancer proliferation. Citation Format: Huy Q. Ta, Samuel R. Jackson, Hilary Whitworth, Shriti Bhadel, Daniel Gioeli. Identification of a novel long noncoding RNA within the LCK gene locus that regulates prostate cancer cell growth. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 979.