Involvement of long non-coding RNA HULC (highly up-regulated in liver cancer) in pathogenesis and implications for therapeutic intervention

Introduction: HULC (highly upregulated in liver cancer) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) which is, as its name suggests, highly upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma and in several other cancers. Increased HULC expression levels are strongly associated with clinicopathologic features such as tumor stages and overall survival and is a driver of tumor proliferation, migration, and invasion. Areas covered: This review addresses the discovery of HULC and discusses the consequences of HULC deregulation in cancer, the underlying molecular mechanisms and the potential of HULC as a biomarker and therapeutic target. Expert opinion: HULC is a promising candidate as a therapeutic target in cancer; however, more studies are necessary to further elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism(s), especially in cancer types other than hepatocellular carcinomas. Future studies that focus on an optimized HULC-targeting approach are necessary to clarify the best strategy to target this lncRNA in vivo and in patients.