LINC00518 Promotes Cell Malignant Behaviors via Influencing EIF4A3-Mediated mRNA Stability of MITF in Melanoma

Exosomal lncRNA RMRP-shuttled by Olfactory Mucosa-Mesenchymal Stem Cells Suppresses Microglial Pyroptosis to Improve Spinal Cord Injury via EIF4A3/SIRT1

Microglial pyroptosis significantly influences the pathological process and functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). Olfactory mucosal mesenchymal stem cells (OM-MSCs) have shown remarkable therapeutic effects in SCI due to their neural substitution potential and paracrine mechanism. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the function and mechanism of OM-MSCs-derived exosomes (Exo) in regulating microglial pyroptosis after SCI. OM-MSCs and their secreted Exo were extracted and identified correspondingly. Microglia cells (HMC3) were stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and co-cultured with Exo; the cell viability and pyroptosis of HMC3 cells were validated by CCK-8 and flow cytometry analysis. The inflammatory cytokines and pyroptosis-related proteins were measured by ELISA and western blot. Molecular interactions were verified by RNA immunoprecipitation and RNA pull-down. The SCI mouse model was constructed and administered with Exo, and then the histopathological features were detected using H&E, Nissl staining, and BMS score. lncRNA RMRP was enriched in OM-MSCs-Exo and downregulated in LPS-induced HMC3 cells. OM-MSCs-Exo administration markedly elevated lncRNA RMRP expression and repressed microglial pyroptosis in LPS-induced HMC3 cells, while these effects were diminished when lncRNA RMRP was depleted in OM-MSCs-Exo. Mechanistically, lncRNA RMRP maintained SIRT1 mRNA stability by recruiting EIF4A3. Overexpression of SIRT1 could rescue lncRNA RMRP knockdown-mediated microglia pyroptosis. In vivo data further supported that OM-MSCs-Exo administration relieves pyroptosis and nerve damage after SCI by carrying lncRNA RMRP. Our data suggested that exosomal lncRNA RMRP mitigated microglia pyroptosis and promoted motor function recovery after SCI by regulating the EIF4A3/SIRT1 axis.

A signature of seven hypoxia-related lncRNAs is a potential biomarker for predicting the prognosis of melanoma

Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer and has a high mortality rate once metastasis occurs. Hypoxia is a universal characteristic of the microenvironment of cancer and a driver of melanoma progression. In recent years, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have attracted widespread attention in oncology research. In this study, screening was performed and revealed seven hypoxia-related lncRNAs AC008687.3, AC009495.1, AC245128.3, AL512363.1, LINC00518, LINC02416 and MCCC1-AS1 as predictive biomarkers. A predictive risk model was constructed via univariate Cox regression analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Patients were grouped according to the model risk score, and Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to compare survival between groups. Functional and pathway enrichment analyses were performed to compare gene set enrichment between groups. Moreover, a nomogram was constructed with the risk score as a variable. In both the training and validation sets, patients in the low-risk group had better overall survival than did those in the high-risk group (P<0.001). The 3-, 5- and 10-year area under the curve (AUC) values for the nomogram model were 0.821, 0.795 and 0.820, respectively. Analyses of immune checkpoints, immunotherapy response, drug sensitivity, and mutation landscape were also performed. The results suggested that the low-risk group had a better response to immunotherapeutic. In addition, the nomogram can effectively predict the prognosis and immunotherapy response of melanoma patients. The signature of seven hypoxia-related lncRNAs showed great potential value as an immunotherapy response biomarker, and these lncRNAs might be treatment targets for melanoma patients.

Circ_C4orf36 Promotes the Proliferation and Osteogenic Differentiation of BMSCs by Regulating VEGFA

Fracture healing is a complicated process containing the regulation of cellular process. It has been reported that circRNAs are involved in fracture healing. Our study aims to explore the role and mechanism of circ_C4orf36 in fracture healing. Here, we found that the expressions of Circ_C4orf36 and VEGFA were increased during osteoblast differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells. Circ_C4orf36 overexpression could accelerate the proliferation and migration, as well as osteoblast differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells, as well as increased ALP activity and osteogenic markers (Runx2, OCN) via upregulating VEGFA expression. Mechanistically, circ_C4orf36 facilitated the expression of VEGFA by recruiting EIF4A3. Taken together, our results elucidated that circ_C4orf6 promoted the migration, proliferation and osteoblast differentiation in BMSCs by upregulating VEGFA, which indicated that circ_C4orf36 might be a potential target in fracture healing treatment.

Using ncRNAs as Tools in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment-The Way towards Personalized Medicine to Improve Patients' Health

Although the first discovery of a non-coding RNA (ncRNA) dates back to 1958, only in recent years has the complexity of the transcriptome started to be elucidated. However, its components are still under investigation and their identification is one of the challenges that scientists are presently facing. In addition, their function is still far from being fully understood. The non-coding portion of the genome is indeed the largest, both quantitatively and qualitatively. A large fraction of these ncRNAs have a regulatory role either in coding mRNAs or in other ncRNAs, creating an intracellular network of crossed interactions (competing endogenous RNA networks, or ceRNET) that fine-tune the gene expression in both health and disease. The alteration of the equilibrium among such interactions can be enough to cause a transition from health to disease, but the opposite is equally true, leading to the possibility of intervening based on these mechanisms to cure human conditions. In this review, we summarize the present knowledge on these mechanisms, illustrating how they can be used for disease treatment, the current challenges and pitfalls, and the roles of environmental and lifestyle-related contributing factors, in addition to the ethical, legal, and social issues arising from their (improper) use.