LncRNA TONSL-AS1 participates in coronary artery disease by interacting with miR-197

A simplified in vitro disease-mimicking culture system can determine the angiogenic effect of medicines on vascular diseases

Many patients undergoing clinical regenerative treatments experience severe conditions arising from endothelial disruption. In chronic cardiac and perivascular diseases, deficiencies in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and heparin, which are essential for maintaining and activating endothelial cells, can lead to angiogenic dysregulation. Endothelial disruption caused by ischemic hypoxia and a deficiency in these factors is associated with many vascular diseases. However, their pathogenic processes remain unclear at the cellular level. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a culture system that mimics the disease environment to test the effectiveness of drug candidates in restoring damaged blood vessels in chronic vascular diseases, including coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease. This study focused on VEGF, IGF, and heparin and developed a pseudo-disease culture system by pre-treating human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with a starvation medium (EGM-2™ medium lacking VEGF, IGF, and heparin) to examine the ability of HUVECs to form a traditional 2D vascular network. The results indicated that a deficiency in these proteins results in disruptions in tube morphogenesis. Moreover, the results suggested that dysregulation of the PI3K/AKT pathway plays a key role for in vascular disruption in HUVECs. The proposed pseudo-disease starvation system provides a simple way to visualize pathological disruptions to blood vessels and assess the efficacy of drugs for vascular regeneration.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10616-025-00736-4.

Long Non-Coding RNA PCAT19 Suppresses Cell Proliferation and Angiogenesis in Coronary Artery Disease through Interaction with GCNT2

LncRNAs involvement in heart disease, however, the effect of lncRNA prostate cancer-associated transcript 19 (PCAT19) in coronary artery disease (CAD) remains unclear. In the current study, we aimed to verify the role of PCAT19 in CAD. We first investigated the differentially expressed lncRNAs in different Genes Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. We then detected lncRNAs expression in healthy volunteers and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients by qRT‑PCR. The correlation of PCAT19 and Glucosaminyl (N-Acetyl) Transferase 2 (GCNT2) was analyzed. Human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs) was used to conduct cell hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) injury model to imitate AMI injury. CCK8, BrdU, tube formation assay were used to detect cell viability, proliferation, and angiogenesis. Immunofluorescence, western blotting were used to detect ki67, VEGFA, PCNA, CD31, and GCNT2 expression, respectively. We obtained six different lncRNAs from GEO database and identified PCAT19 high expression in AMI patients. PCAT19 was positive correlation to GCNT2. Further experiments presented that PCAT19 knockdown promoted cell viability, proliferation and angiogenesis, GCNT2 knockdown also promoted cell viability, proliferation, and angiogenesis. These results confirmed by the inhibition of Ki67 and VEGFA. Importantly, PCAT19 overexpression suppressed cell proliferation and angiogenesis, these results also confirmed by the inhibition of PCNA and CD31. However, the inhibitory effect of PCAT19 overexpression was reversed by GCNT2 knockdown. Our study indicated that PCAT19 plays an important role in the CAD disease, its effects was related to GCNT2. Our research provides a novel sight for the effect of PCAT19 on CAD.

LncRNA-mediated Modulation of Endothelial Cells: Novel Progress in the Pathogenesis of Coronary Atherosclerotic Disease

Coronary atherosclerotic disease (CAD) is a common cardiovascular disease and an important cause of death. Moreover, endothelial cells (ECs) injury is an early pathophysiological feature of CAD, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can modulate gene expression. Recent studies have shown that lncRNAs are involved in the pathogenesis of CAD, especially by regulating ECs. In this review, we summarize the novel progress of lncRNA-modulated ECs in the pathogenesis of CAD, including ECs proliferation, migration, adhesion, angiogenesis, inflammation, apoptosis, autophagy, and pyroptosis. Thus, as lncRNAs regulate ECs in CAD, lncRNAs will provide ideal and novel targets for the diagnosis and drug therapy of CAD.

Expanding the horizon of EV-RNAs: LncRNAs in EVs as biomarkers for disease pathways

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound nanoparticles with different types of cargo released by cells and postulated to mediate functions such as intercellular communications. Recent studies have shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) or their fragments are present as cargo within EVs. LncRNAs are a heterogeneous group of RNA species with a length exceeding 200 nucleotides with diverse functions in cells based on their localization. While lncRNAs are known for their important functions in cellular regulation, their presence and role in EVs have only recently been explored. While certain studies have observed EV-lncRNAs to be tissue-and disease-specific, it remains to be determined whether or not this is a global observation. Nonetheless, these molecules have demonstrated promising potential to serve as new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In this review, we critically evaluate the role of EV-derived lncRNAs in several prevalent diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases, with a specific focus on their role as biomarkers.

LncRNA MAFG-AS1 is involved in human cancer progression

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) refer to a type of non-protein-coding transcript of more than 200 nucleotides. LncRNAs play fundamental roles in disease development and progression, and lncRNAs are dysregulated in many pathophysiological processes. Thus, lncRNAs may have potential value in clinical applications. The lncRNA, MAF BZIP Transcription Factor G (MAFG)-AS1, is dysregulated in several cancer, including breast cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, esophagus cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and glioma. Altered MAFG-AS1 levels are also associated with diverse clinical characteristics and patient outcomes. Mechanistically, MAFG-AS1 mediates a variety of cellular processes via the regulation of target gene expression. Therefore, the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic aspects of MAFG-AS1 have been widely explored. In this review, we discuss the expression, major roles, and molecular mechanisms of MAFG-AS1, the relationship between MAFG-AS1 and clinical features of diseases, and the clinical applications of MAFG-AS1.

Potential roles of microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs as diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers in coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD), which is mainly caused by atherosclerotic processes in coronary arteries, became a significant health issue. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), have been shown to be stable in plasma and could thereby be adopted as biomarkers for CAD diagnosis and treatment. MiRNAs can regulate CAD development through different pathways and mechanisms, including modulation of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) activity, inflammatory responses, myocardial injury, angiogenesis, and leukocyte adhesion. Similarly, previous studies have indicated that the causal effects of lncRNAs in CAD pathogenesis and their utility in CAD diagnosis and treatment, has been found to lead to cell cycle transition, proliferation dysregulation, and migration in favour of CAD development. Differential expression of miRNAs and lncRNAs in CAD patients has been identified and served as diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers for the assessment of CAD patients. Thus, in the current review, we summarize the functions of miRNAs and lncRNAs, which aimed to identify novel targets for the CAD diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.

New developments in non-exosomal and exosomal ncRNAs in coronary artery disease

Aim & methods: Non-exosomal and exosomal ncRNAs have been reported to be involved in the regulation of coronary artery disease (CAD). Therefore, to explore the biological effects of non-exosomal/exosomal ncRNAs in CAD, the authors searched for studies published in the last 3 years on these ncRNAs in CAD and summarized their functions and mechanisms. Results: The authors summarized 120 non-exosomal ncRNAs capable of regulating CAD progression. In clinical studies, 47 non-exosomal and nine exosomal ncRNAs were able to serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis of CAD. Conclusion: Non-exosomal/exosomal ncRNAs are not only able to serve as biomarkers for CAD diagnosis but can also regulate CAD progression through ceRNA mechanisms and are a potential target for early clinical intervention in CAD.

Profiling and Molecular Mechanism Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNAs and mRNAs in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Rat Models

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an immune-mediated disease with poor prognosis and associated with various inflammatory immune diseases. In fact, its pathogenesis is far from clear. Although long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in PAH, the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. For the first time, in lungs of monocrotaline-induced PAH rat models, we simultaneously detected the expression profiles of lncRNAs and mRNAs by high-throughput sequencing, and explored their roles with bioinformatics analysis and cell assay to discover more potential pathogenesis about PAH. Our data identified that a total of 559 lncRNAs and 691 mRNAs were differentially expressed in lungs during the pathogenesis of PAH. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses demonstrated that these dysregulated lncRNAs and mRNAs participated in important biological processes and pathways of PAH, among which inflammatory and immune responses represented the chief enriched pathway. The lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network was developed to uncover the hidden interactions between lncRNAs and mRNAs. Further, the expression levels of lncRNAs (NONRATT018084.2, NONRATT009275.2, NONRATT007865.2, and NONRATT026300.2) and mRNAs (LGALS3, PDGFC, SERPINA1, and NFIL3) were confirmed using quantitative real-time PCR. In the end, lncRNA NONRATT009275.2 could facilitate macrophage polarization to M2 type and be involved in inflammatory immune response. In conclusion, this study provided candidate drug targets and potential roles on lncRNAs in the pathogenesis of PAH, and several key regulatory genes were identified, which laid the initial foundation for further mechanism study in PAH.