Cancer remains a leading cause of mortality and poses a substantial threat to public health. Studies have revealed that Long noncoding RNA DANCR is a cytoplasmic lncRNA whose aberrant expression plays a pivotal role in various cancer types. Within tumour biology, DANCR exerts regulatory control over crucial processes such as proliferation, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, inflammatory responses, cellular energy metabolism reprogramming, and apoptosis. By acting as a competitive endogenous RNA for miRNAs and by interacting with proteins and mRNAs at the molecular level, DANCR contributes significantly to cancer progression. Elevated DANCR levels have also been linked to heightened resistance to anticancer drugs. Moreover, the detection of circulating DANCR holds promise as a valuable biomarker for aiding in the clinical differentiation of different cancer types. This article offers a comprehensive review and elucidation of the primary functions and molecular mechanisms through which DANCR influences tumours.

Forkhead box protein A1 (FoxA1) is a transcription factor that is involved in embryonic development and cell differentiation. In this study, we show that hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) treatment upregulated expression of FoxA1 and UCP2 in the A549 cell line. Overexpression of FoxA1 by full-length complementary DNA reduced UCP2 expression, while silencing of FoxA1 expression by small interfering RNA significantly increased UCP2 levels. FoxA1 binds to a site from −919 to −913 bp relative to the UCP2 transcription start site. The overexpression of FoxA1 promoted the DNA binding activity and attenuated the transcription of UCP2 promoter as shown by electromobility shift, chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, and luciferase reporter assay. These data indicate an important role of FoxA1 in regulating expression of UCP2.