PlncRNA-1 stimulates hair follicle stem cell differentiation in wound healing via the EZH2/ZEB1/MAPK1 axis

BACKGROUND

Hair follicles have been reported to contribute to epidermal healing, with differentiation of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) aiding in wound re-epithelialization. This study is aimed to delineate the molecular mechanistic actions by which prostate cancer-upregulated long noncoding RNA 1 (PlncRNA-1) accelerates the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs in wound healing.

METHODS

HFSCs were obtained from the scalps of five volunteers, in which the expression of PlncRNA-1 and downstream regulatory genes was identified. Effects of PlncRNA-1 overexpression and ZEB1 knockdown on the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs were examined. A wound mouse model was further established for in vivo experiments to substantiate in vitro findings.

RESULTS

PlncRNA-1 is highly expressed in HFSCs and accelerates the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs. PlncRNA-1 recruits EZH2 to ZEB1 promoter region and augments the H3K27me3 methylation, thereby downregulating the expression of ZEB1. Without such suppression, ZEB1 could repress MAPK1 expression and restrict HFSC proliferation and differentiation. Further, PlncRNA-1 overexpression accelerates wound healing and epidermal regeneration in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS

PlncRNA-1 inhibits ZEB1 and activates MAPK1 signaling through upregulating EZH2, thereby enhancing the proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs and wound healing.

PlncRNA-1 is overexpressed in retinoblastoma and regulates retinoblastoma cell proliferation and motility through modulating CBR3

PlncRNA-1 has been suggested to function as an oncogenic role in prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and gastric cancer. The expression pattern of PlncRNA-1 in retinoblastoma remained unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the clinical significance of PlncRNA-1 in retinoblastoma patient and the biological function and molecular mechanism of PlncRNA-1 in regulating retinoblastoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. The results showed the level of PlncRNA-1 expression was obviously increased in retinoblastoma tissues and cell lines compared with compared with normal retina tissues and retina cell lines, respectively. Meanwhile, patients with advanced stage retinoblastoma had higher levels of PlncRNA-1 expression than patients with early stage retinoblastoma. There was an inverse correlation between PlncRNA-1 expression and CBR3 expression in retinoblastoma tissues, and PlncRNA-1 negatively regulated mRNA and protein expressions of CBR3. The in vitro experiments showed that down-regulation of PlncRNA-1 expression suppressed retinoblastoma cell proliferation, migration and invasion through up-regulating CBR3. In conclusion, PlncRNA-1 serves as an oncogenic lncRNA in regulating retinoblastoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion through proliferation, migration, and invasion through up-regulating CBR3. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 70(10):969-975, 2018.

LncRNA PlncRNA-1 overexpression inhibits the growth of breast cancer by upregulating TGF-β1 and downregulating PHGDH

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the role of lncRNA PlncRNA-1 in the pathogenesis of breast cancer.

METHODS

A total of 78 patients with breast cancer as well as 48 healthy females were included in this study. Expression in tumor tissues and adjacent healthy tissues of breast cancer patients, as well as in breast tissues and serum of both patients and healthy control was detected by qRT-PCR. Cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 assay, and cell apoptosis was tested by MTT assay. PlncRNA-1 overexpression cell lines were constructed and the effects on TGF-β1 as well as phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) were explored by western blot.

RESULTS

Expression levels of PlncRNA-1 were significantly lower in tumor tissues than those in adjacent healthy tissues. Significantly lower expression levels of PlncRNA-1 were also found in breast cancer patients than those in healthy controls in both breast tissue and serum. Upregulation of PlncRNA-1 promoted the expression of TGF-β1, but inhibited the expression of PHGDH. LncRNA PlncRNA-1 overexpression reduced the proliferation rate, but increased the apoptosis rate of breast cancer cells, while treatment with TGF-β inhibitor reduced those effects of PlncRNA-1 overexpression.

CONCLUSION

LncRNA PlncRNA-1 overexpression inhibits the growth of breast cancer by upregulating TGF-β1 and downregulating PHGDH.

Upregulation of long non-coding RNA PlncRNA-1 promotes proliferation and induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in prostate cancer

Objective

To confirm that PlncRNA-1 regulates the cell cycle in prostate cancer cells and induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in prostate cancer through the TGF-β1 pathway.

Results

PlncRNA-1 and TGF-β1 expression levels were significantly higher in prostate cancer tissues than in normal prostate tissues (P < 0.05) and were significantly positively correlated. TGF-β1, N-cadherin and Cyclin-D1 were downregulated and E-Cadherin was upregulated in LNCAP cells after silencing of PlncRNA-1, as determined by real-time PCR and Western blot. TGF-β1, N-cadherin and Cyclin-D1 were upregulated and E-cadherin was downregulated in C4-2 cells, as determined by real-time PCR and Western blot. Overexpression of PlncRNA-1 in C4-2 cells was observed when TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761 was added. Western blot analysis showed that compared with their expression when TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761 was not added, N-Cadherin and CyclinD1 expression decreased and E-Cadherin expression increased. Transwell results showed that the invasive ability of C4-2 cells was enhanced after overexpression of PlncRNA-1, and the invasion ability was decreased after addition of TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761. The cell cycle was blocked by overexpression of PlncRNA-1 in C4-2 and by the addition of TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761, as determined by flow cytometry. In vitro experiments showed that PlncRNA-1 can regulate the growth of prostate cancer cells and EMT through the TGF-β1 pathway. In vivo experiments also confirmed the above results. Tumor growth was significantly blocked by overexpressing PlncRNA-1 in C4-2 cells and by the TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761 in animal experiments.

Materials and Methods

The expression levels of PlncRNA-1 and TGF-β1 were analyzed in 19 prostate cancer tissue samples and in adjacent normal tissue samples, 4 Pca cell lines, including LNCaP, C4-2, DU145, and PC3, and 1 normal prostate epithelial cell line RWPE-1. LNCAP cells were divided into the LNCAP control group and the LNCAP-PlncRNA-1-siRNA group. Cells from the prostate cancer cell line C4-2 were divided into the C4-2 control group and the C4-2-PlncRNA-1 experimental group. Changes in TGF-β1, E-cadherin and N-cadherin were detected by qPCR and Western Blot assay after silencing and overexpression of PlncRNA-1. The cell cycle, cell invasion, and levels of Cyclin-D1, E-Cadherin, and N-Cadherin were observed after adding TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761 in the C4-2-PlncRNA-1 group. The effects of TGF-β1 inhibitor LY2109761 on the tumorigenicity of C4-2 cells after overexpression of PlncRNA-1 was investigated in vivo.

Conclusions

PlncRNA-1 is an oncogene that regulates the cell cycle, cyclin-D1 and EMT in prostate cancer cells through the TGF-β1 pathway.

Long non-coding RNA PlncRNA-1 regulates cell proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy in septic acute kidney injury by regulating BCL2

This study aimed to elucidate the potential role of long non-coding RNA PlncRNA-1 in the septic acute kidney injury (AKI). The expression of PlncRNA-1 in the serum of patients with septic AKI patient was detected. We then established lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced septic AKI model in NRK-52E cells to investigate the effects of the overexpression of PlncRNA-1 on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. In addition, the regulatory relationship between PlncRNA-1 and B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) was explored to further elucidate the regulatory mechanism of PlncRNA-1 in septic AKI. PlncRNA-1 is downregulated in the serum of patients with septic AKI and in LPS-induced septic AKI cells. The overexpression of PlncRNA-1 considerably increases proliferation and inhibits apoptosis and autophagy of LPS-induced septic AKI cells. In addition, PlncRNA-1 can promote BCL2 expression, and the overexpression of BCL2 enhances proliferation and inhibits apoptosis and autophagy of LPS-induced septic AKI cells. Our findings reveal that the overexpression of PlncRNA-1 may promote cell proliferation and inhibit apoptosis and autophagy in septic AKI by regulating BCL2 expression. PlncRNA-1 may serve as a potential biomarker or target for the diagnosis and treatment of septic AKI.

A feed-forward regulatory loop between androgen receptor and PlncRNA-1 promotes prostate cancer progression

We previously reported that PlncRNA-1, a long non-coding RNA that is up-regulated in prostate cancer (PCa), affects the proliferation and apoptosis of PCa cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects remain largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that long non-coding RNA PlncRNA-1, whose expression is promoted by Androgen Receptor (AR), protects AR from microRNA-mediated suppression in PCa cells. PlncRNA-1 knockdown resulted in the up-regulation of a series of AR-targeting microRNAs, among which miR-34c and miR-297 were found to regulate both AR and PlncRNA-1 expression at the post-transcriptional level. Functional analysis revealed that miR-34c and miR-297 overexpression down-regulated AR expression and inhibited the expression of downstream AR targets and that PlncRNA-1 overexpression rescued these effects. The association of PlncRNA-1 with tumor progression was also evaluated in mouse xenograft models, PCa tissues (16 paired samples), and blood samples (35 biopsy-negative and 37 biopsy-positive). Together, the data generated in this study indicate that PlncRNA-1 sponges AR-targeting microRNAs to protect AR from microRNA-mediated down-regulation and that these events form a regulatory feed-forward loop in the development of PCa. These findings suggest that PlncRNA-1 might potentially serve as a novel biomarker in PCa and that PlncRNA-1 might warrant further investigation to determine its potential role as a promising therapeutic target in PCa.