LncRNA-KAT7 Negatively Regulates miR-10a Through an Epigenetic Pathway to Participate in Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer

Long noncoding RNA SENCR facilitates the progression of acute myeloid leukemia through the miR-4731-5p/IRF2 pathway

BACKGROUND

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of hematological tumor caused by malignant clone hematopoietic stem cells. The relationship between lncRNAs and tumor occurrence and progression has been gaining attention. Research has shown that Smooth muscle and endothelial cell-enriched migration/differentiation-associated lncRNA (SENCR) is abnormally expressed in various diseases, whereas its role in AML is still poorly understood.

METHODS

The expression of SENCR, microRNA-4731-5p (miR-4731-5p) and Interferon regulatory factor 2 (IRF2) were measured using qRT-PCR. The proliferation, cycle and apoptosis of AML cells with or without knockdown of SENCR were detected by CCK-8 assay, EdU assay, flow cytometry, western blotting and TUNEL assay, respectively. Consistently, SENCR knockdown was impaired the AML progression in immunodeficient mice. In addition, the binding of miR-4731-5p to SENCR or IRF2 was confirmed by luciferase reporter genes assay. Finally, rescue experiments were conducted to confirm the role of SENCR/miR-4731-5p/IRF2 axis in AML.

RESULTS

SENCR is highly expressed in AML patients and cell lines. The patients with high SENCR expression had poorer prognosis compared with those with low SENCR expression. Interestingly, knockdown of SENCR inhibits the growth of AML cells. Further results demonstrated that the reduction of SENCR slows the progression of AML in vivo. SENCR could function as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to negatively regulate miR-4731-5p in AML cells. Furthermore, IRF2 was validated as a direct target gene of miR-4731-5p in AML cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings underscore the important role of SENCR in regulating the malignant phenotype of AML cells by targeting the miR-4731-5p/IRF2 axis.

Identification of Chromatin Regulatory Factors Related to Immunity and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is one of the common neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly, which mainly manifests as progressively severe cognitive impairment, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. Chromatin regulators have been shown to be associated with a variety of biological processes, and we mainly explore the relationship between chromatin regulators and Alzheimer's disease. Eight hundred seventy chromatin regulators were collected from previous studies, and data related to Alzheimer's disease patients were downloaded from the GEO database. Finally, we screened chromatin regulators related to Alzheimer's disease immunity, established prediction models, and screened related drugs and miRNAs. We screened 160 differentially expressed CRs, constructed an interaction network, obtained 10 hub genes, successfully constructed a prediction model based on immune-related 5 CRs, and obtained 520 related drugs and 3 related miRNA, which provided an idea for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Our study identified 5 chromatin regulators related to Alzheimer's disease, which are expected to be new targets for Alzheimer's disease immunotherapy.

Insights into the role of long non-coding RNAs in DNA methylation mediated transcriptional regulation

DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic mechanisms that governing regulation of gene expression, aberrant DNA methylation patterns are strongly associated with human malignancies. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have being discovered as a significant regulator on gene expression at the epigenetic level. Emerging evidences have indicated the intricate regulatory effects between lncRNAs and DNA methylation. On one hand, transcription of lncRNAs are controlled by the promoter methylation, which is similar to protein coding genes, on the other hand, lncRNA could interact with enzymes involved in DNA methylation to affect the methylation pattern of downstream genes, thus regulating their expression. In addition, circular RNAs (circRNAs) being an important class of noncoding RNA are also found to participate in this complex regulatory network. In this review, we summarize recent research progress on this crosstalk between lncRNA, circRNA, and DNA methylation as well as their potential functions in complex diseases including cancer. This work reveals a hidden layer for gene transcriptional regulation and enhances our understanding for epigenetics regarding detailed mechanisms on lncRNA regulatory function in human cancers.

Long non-coding RNAs and exosomal lncRNAs: Potential functions in lung cancer progression, drug resistance and tumor microenvironment remodeling

Among the different kinds of tumors threatening human life, lung cancer is one that is commonly observed in both males and females. The aggressive behavior of lung cancer and interactions occurring in tumor microenvironment enhances the malignancy of this tumor. The lung tumor cells have demonstrated capacity in developing chemo- and radio-resistance. LncRNAs are a category of non-coding RNAs that do not encode proteins, but their aberrant expression is responsible for tumor development, especially lung cancer. In the present review, we focus on both lncRNAs and exosomal lncRNAs in lung cancer, and their ability in regulating proliferation and metastasis. Cell cycle progression and molecular mechanisms related to lung cancer metastasis such as EMT and MMPs are regulated by lncRNAs. LncRNAs interact with miRNAs, STAT, Wnt, EZH2, PTEN and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways to affect progression of lung cancer cells. LncRNAs demonstrate both tumor-suppressor and tumor-promoting functions in lung cancer. They can be considered as biomarkers in lung cancer and especially exosomal lncRNAs present in body fluids are potential tools for minimally invasive diagnosis. Furthermore, we discuss regulation of lncRNAs by anti-cancer drugs and genetic tools as well as the role of these factors in therapy response of lung cancer cells.

Dexmedetomidine Can Reduce the Level of Oxidative Stress and Serum miR-10a in Patients with Lung Cancer after Surgery

OBJECTIVE

 Lung cancer is a primary cause of cancer death. This study assessed the action of dexmedetomidine (DEX) on oxidative stress (OS) and microRNA 10a (miR-10a) in patients with lung cancer.

METHODS

 Patients were given 1 µg/kg DEX before anesthesia and control patients were given saline. The duration of intraoperative one-lung ventilation (OLV) and fluid intake were determined, and mean arterial pressure, heart rate and bispectral index were observed at the time of before anesthesia (T0), immediately after endotracheal intubation (T1), 1 hour after OLV (T2), and 10 minutes before the end of surgery (T3). The expressions and correlations of miR-10a, inflammation and OS levels in the serum were analyzed. The effects of DEX intervention and miR-10a level on pulmonary complications were analyzed.

RESULTS

 Patients with DEX intervention had lower levels of inflammation and OS during perioperative period than the controls. DEX intervention reduced miR-10a levels in patients during perioperative period. miR-10a in serum of patients with DEX intervention after surgery was positively-correlated with the concentrations of malondialdehyde, and inflammatory factors, while negatively-correlated with superoxide dismutase. The total incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications after DEX intervention was lowered. Patients with high miR-10a expression had a higher cumulative incidence of pulmonary complications than those with low miR-10a expression.

CONCLUSION

 DEX can reduce postoperative OS and plasma miR-10a level in patients with lung cancer, and high expression of miR-10a predicts a high incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications.