Exosomal lncRNA DOCK9-AS2 derived from cancer stem cell-like cells activated Wnt/beta-catenin pathway to aggravate stemness, proliferation, migration, and invasion in papillary thyroid carcinoma
CELL DEATH & DISEASE
Authors: Dai, Wencheng; Jin, Xiaoxia; Han, Liang; Huang, Haijing; Ji, Zhenhua; Xu, Xinjiang; Tang, Mingming; Jiang, Bin; Chen, Weixian
Abstract
Exosomal long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are crucial factors that mediate the extracellular communication in tumor microenvironment. DOCK9 antisense RNA2 (DOCK9-AS2) is an exosomal lncRNA which has not been investigated in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Based on the result of differentially expressed lncRNAs in PTC via bioinformatics databases, we discovered that DOCK9-AS2 was upregulated in PTC, and presented elevation in plasma exosomes of PTC patients. Functionally, DOCK9-AS2 knockdown reduced proliferation, migration, invasion, epithelial-to-mesenchymal (EMT) and stemness in PTC cells. PTC-CSCs transmitted exosomal DOCK9-AS2 to improve stemness of PTC cells. Mechanistically, DOCK9-AS2 interacted with SP1 to induce catenin beta 1 (CTNNB1) transcription and sponged microRNA-1972 (miR-1972) to upregulate CTNNB1, thereby activating Wnt/beta -catenin pathway in PTC cells. In conclusion, PTC-CSCs-derived exosomal lncRNA DOCK9-AS2 activated Wnt/beta -catenin pathway to aggravate PTC progression, indicating that DOCK9-AS2 was a potential target for therapies in PTC.
miR-5188 augments glioma growth, migration and invasion through an SP1-modulated FOXO1-PI3K/AKT-c-JUN-positive feedback circuit
JOURNAL OF CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE
Authors: Yi, Renhui; Yang, Shaochun; Lin, Xian; Zhong, Liangying; Liao, Yuanyuan; Hu, Zheng; Huang, Tengyue; Long, Hao; Lin, Jie; Wu, Zhiyong; Xie, Cheng; Ding, Shengfeng; Luo, Jie; Luo, Qisheng; Song, Ye
Abstract
The biological effect and molecular mechanism of miR-5188 have not been thoroughly investigated. The study aims at elucidating the role of miR-5188 in glioma progression. Human glioma cell lines and tissues were used for functional and expression analysis. Cellular and molecular techniques were performed to explore the functions and mechanisms of miR-5188 in glioma. In our investigation, we demonstrated that miR-5188 promoted cell proliferation, the G1/S transition of the cell cycle, migration and invasion in glioma and reduced the lifespan of glioma-bearing mice. miR-5188 directly targeted FOXO1 and activated PI3K/AKT-c-JUN signalling, which enhanced miR-5188 expression. Moreover, the c-JUN transcription factor functionally bound to the miR-5188 promoter region, forming the positive feedback loop. The feedback loop promoted glioma progression through activating the PI3K/AKT signalling, and this loop is augmented by the interaction between SP1 and c-JUN. Moreover, it was also found that the miR-5188/FOXO1 axis is facilitated by SP1-activated PI3K/AKT/c-JUN signalling. In glioma samples, miR-5188 expression was found to be an unfavourable factor and was positively associated with the mRNA levels of SP1 and c-JUN, whereas negatively associated with the mRNA levels of FOXO1. Our investigation demonstrates that miR-5188 could function as a tumour promoter by directly targeting FOXO1 and participating in SP1-mediated promotion of cell growth and tumorigenesis in glioma.