Prognostic value of long noncoding RNA ZFAS1 in various carcinomas: a meta-analysis

A Novel Long-Noncoding RNA LncZFAS1 Prevents MPP+-Induced Neuroinflammation Through MIB1 Activation

Parkinson's disease remains one of the leading neurodegenerative diseases in developed countries. Despite well-defined symptomology and pathology, the complexity of Parkinson's disease prevents a full understanding of its etiological mechanism. Mechanistically, α-synuclein misfolding and aggregation appear to be central for disease progression, but mitochondrial dysfunction, dysfunctional protein clearance and ubiquitin/proteasome systems, and neuroinflammation have also been associated with Parkinson's disease. Particularly, neuroinflammation, which was initially thought to be a side effect of Parkinson's disease pathogenesis, has now been recognized as driver of Parkinson's disease exacerbation. Next-generation sequencing has been used to identify a plethora of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) with important transcriptional regulatory functions. Moreover, a myriad of lncRNAs are known to be regulators of inflammatory signaling and neurodegenerative diseases, including IL-1β secretion and Parkinson's disease. Here, LncZFAS1 was identified as a regulator of inflammasome activation, and pyroptosis in human neuroblast SH-SY5Y cells following MPP⁺ treatment, a common in vitro Parkinson's disease cell model. Mechanistically, TXNIP ubiquitination through MIB1 E3 ubiquitin ligase regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation in neuroblasts. In contrast, MPP⁺ activates the NLPR3 inflammasome through miR590-3p upregulation and direct interference with MIB1-dependent TXNIP ubiquitination. LncZFAS overexpression inhibits this entire pathway through direct interference with miR590-3p, exposing a novel research idea regarding the mechanism of Parkinson's disease.

Long noncoding RNA ZFAS1 silencing alleviates rheumatoid arthritis via blocking miR-296-5p-mediated down-regulation of MMP-15

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory disease, deprives patients' walking ability and reduces their life quality worldwide. Though recent studies have indicated the role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) ZFAS1 in several diseases, however, its role in RA remains uncharacterized. The present study aimed to unravel the the effect of ZFAS1 on RA. Herein, the RA mouse model and the human RA synoviocyte MH7A cell lines stimulated with TNF-α were established. ZFAS1 was next determined to be highly expressed in the mice with RA-like symptoms and TNF-α-stimulated MH7A cells while inhibiting ZFAS1 was demonstrated to promote proliferation and suppress apoptosis of MH7A cells. Furthermore, ZFAS1 knockdown exerted anti-inflammation effect in vitro and in vivo and reduced the arthritis index value. Moreover, RNA immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter assays identified the binding of ZFAS1 to microRNA (miR)-296-5p as well as the binding of miR-296-5p to matrix metalloproteinase-15 (MMP-15). Of note, ZFAS1 could bind miR-296-5p to up-regulate the expression of MMP-15. Our results from in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated silencing ZFAS1 mitigated RA-like symptoms such as inflammation and hyperplasia via miR-296-5p-dependent inhibition of MMP-15. Taken altogether, our study confirmed that ZFAS1 involved in RA progression by competitively binding to miR-296-5p and regulating MMP-15 expression.

LncRNA ZFAS1, as a poor prognostic indicator, promotes cell proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in endometrial carcinoma

Background: Long noncoding RNA Zinc finger nuclear transcription factor, X-box binding 1-type containing 1 antisense RNA 1 (ZFAS1) has been reported to be an oncogene in various tumors. However, the role of ZFAS1 in endometrial carcinoma (EC) are not fully determined. Methods & results: Here, we found ZFAS1 expression was significantly upregulated in EC patients, which was significantly associated with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, histological grade, myometrial invasion and poor prognosis. The loss-of-function assays showed that knockdown of ZFAS1 significantly suppressed the proliferation, G1/S transition, migration and invasion in EC cells. Moreover, knockdown of ZFAS1 obviously downregulated the expression of CDK4, Cyclin D1 and N-cadherin, but upregulated E-cadherin expression. Conclusion: Collectively, these results suggest that ZFAS1 might be used as potential therapeutic targets for EC treatment.

Long non-coding RNA ZFAS1 promotes proliferation and metastasis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma via targeting miR-10a/SKA1 pathway

BACKGROUND

LncRNA ZFAS1 (ZNFX1 antisense RNA1) plays key roles in the occurrence and progression of various cancers, including colorectal cancer, glioma, lung cancer, gastric cancer, and so on. To date, relatively little is known about its potential role in development and/or progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

METHODS

Expression level of ZFAS1 and miR-10a in 60 ccRCC and 20 adjacent non-tumor tissues were determined by using qRT-PCR. The effect of knockdown of ZFAS1 on cell proliferation, migration and invasion were measured by CCK-8 assay, transwell migration and invasion assay, respectively. The correlation of ZFAS1 and miR-10a was analyzed by bioinformatics DIANA TOOLS. Protein and mRNA expression of spindle and kinetochore-associated protein 1(SKA1) were determined by western blot and qRT-PCR analysis, respectively. Interactions between ZFAS1 and miR-10a were verified by luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay, and interactions between miR-10a and SKA1 was verified by a luciferase reporter assay.

RESULTS

We observed that high-level expression of ZFAS1 is positively correlated with poor prognosis and shorter overall survival (OS) in patients with ccRCC. Knockdown of ZFAS1 significantly suppressed proliferation, migration and invasion of ccRCC cells. Furthermore, miR-10a was identified as a target of ZFAS1. Silencing miR-10a could attenuate the ability of ZFAS1 in promoting proliferation and metastasis of ccRCC. Subsequently, our studies validated that SKA1, as a key downstream target protein for miR-10a, is responsible for the biological role of ZFAS1. ZFAS1 positively regulated SKA1 expression via sponging miR-10a.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, our findings suggest that ZFAS1 promotes growth and metastasis of ccRCC via targeting miR-10a/SKA1 pathway, which may represent a novel therapeutic target or biomarker for ccRCC.

ZFAS1: A novel vital oncogenic lncRNA in multiple human cancers

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of noncoding, endogenous, single‐stranded RNAs longer than 200 nucleotides in length that are transcribed by RNA polymerase II. Mounting evidence has indicated that lncRNAs play key roles in several physiological and pathological processes by modifying gene expression at the transcriptional, posttranscriptional, epigenetic, and translation levels. Many reports have demonstrated that lncRNAs function as potential oncogene or tumour suppressors and thus play vital regulatory roles in tumourigenesis and tumour progression. ZNFX1 antisense RNA 1 (ZFAS1), a novel lncRNA transcribed in the antisense orientation of zinc finger NFX1‐type containing 1(ZNFX1), was found to be increased in multiple cancers, such as gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, contributing to cancer development and progression. In the present review, we summarized recent progression on study of the functions and underlying molecular mechanisms of ZFAS1 related to occurrence and development of multiple cancers.

ZFAS1 functions as an oncogenic long non-coding RNA in bladder cancer

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) ZFAS1 (zinc finger antisense 1) has been suggested to have an oncogenic role in the tumorigenesis of human malignant tumors. However, the expression status and biological function of ZFAS1 in bladder cancer is still unknown. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to explore the clinical value of ZFAS1 in bladder cancer patients, and the biological function of ZFAS1 in bladder cancer cell. In the present study, we found ZFAS1 expression was increased in bladder cancer tissues compared with paired adjacent normal tissues through analyzing the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Furthermore, we confirmed that levels of ZFAS1 expression were elevated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines compared with normal bladder tissues and normal uroepithelium cell line, respectively. Then, we observed that the expression level of ZFAS1 was positively associated with clinical stag, muscularis invasion, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis in bladder cancer patients. The experiments in vitro suggested that knockdown of ZFAS1 repressed bladder cancer cell proliferation via up-regulating KLF2 and NKD2 expression, and inhibited cell migration and invasion via down-regulating ZEB1 and ZEB2 expression. In conclusion, ZFAS1 is overexpressed in bladder cancer, and functions as an oncogenic lncRNA in regulating bladder cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion.