LncRNA ELDR promotes bladder cancer malignant progression by regulating the miR-1343-3p/TRIM44 axis

Xiao Hu^1,2Tianhang Xie²Xiao Xiao³Yuhua Mei^4,5*

• ¹Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Orthopedic Research Institute, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China
• ²Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Orthopedic Research Institute, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China
• ³Chongqing University Fuling Hospital, Chongqing, China
• ⁴Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
• ⁵Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology and Epigenetics, Chongqing, China

Bladder cancer (Bca) is one of the most prevalent genitourinary malignancies with high recurrence worldwide. A lack of reliable prognostic biomarkers and effective therapeutic targets hinders its treatment. Emerging evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in human cancers, including BCa. While lncRNAs hold enormous promise, their specific roles and mechanisms in BCa remain largely unexplored. Here, we identify the lncRNA ELDR as a pivotal oncogenic driver in BCa. ELDR is significantly upregulated in BCa tissues, and its high expression correlates with aggressive clinicopathological features and predicts poor prognosis in BCa patients. Functional experiments demonstrate that ELDR enhances BCa cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion in vitro and accelerates tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, ELDR functions as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) by sequestering tumor-suppressive miR-1343-3p in the cytoplasm, which consequently leads to the upregulation of the oncogene TRIM44. Our findings unveil the ELDR/miR-1343-3p/TRIM44 axis as a crucial pathway in BCa progression, establishing ELDR as a promising prognostic biomarker and an attractive candidate for the development of targeted therapies.