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LncRNA H19 Participates in Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Mediated Stemness Promotion in Colorectal Cancer Cells

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Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common human malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) were considered to play important roles in the genesis and development of many tumors. In recent years, it has been observed that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) might be involved in the regulation of stemness in cancer cells. In this study, we observed that LIF could increase the spheroid formation and stemness marker expression (inculding Nanog and SOX2) in CRC cell lines, such as HCT116 and Caco2 cells. Meanwhile, we also observed that LIF could upregulate LncRNA H19 expression via PI3K/AKT pathway. Knockdown of the expression of LncRNA H19 could decrease the spheroid formation and SOX2 expression in LIF-treated HCT116 and Caco2 cells, and thereby LncRNA H19 knockdown could compensate for the stemness enhancement effects induced by LIF. Our results indicated that LncRNA H19 might participate in the stemness promotion of LIF in CRC cells.

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Data Availability

The TCGA repository (https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/projects/TCGA) was utilized, under the accession code: Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). The survival analysis was performed at the website (http://www.oncolnc.org). The method is described in the section of material and method.

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81772649). The Foundation of Health Commission of Hubei Province (WJ2021M057). The Scientific and Technological Project of Shiyan City, Hubei Province (2021K62). Innovative Research Program for Graduated of Hubei University of Medicine (YC2022010, YC2023017). National Training Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates (202210929003, 202210929006). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of this manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Min Zhu, Ruihong Yu, and Yirui Liu have contributed equally to this report.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Medicine, No.30 Renmin Nanlu, Shiyan, 442000, Hubei, China

    Min Zhu, Ruihong Yu, Yirui Liu, Xiaoqing Geng, Qiong Liu, Shuaitong Liu, Yang Guo, Xueyan Xi & Boyu Du

  2. Sinopharm Dongfeng General Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, China

    Min Zhu

  3. Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, China

    Yunhe Zhu, Gang Li, Xueyan Xi & Boyu Du

  4. Hubei Key Laboratory of Wudang Local Chinese Medicine Research, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, China

    Boyu Du

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  1. Min Zhu
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: XX BD. Performed the experiments: MZ, RY, YL, QL, SL. Analyzed the data: XG, YG, BD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YZ, GL. Wrote the paper: XX BD. All authors commented and approved the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xueyan Xi or Boyu Du.

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Zhu, M., Yu, R., Liu, Y. et al. LncRNA H19 Participates in Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Mediated Stemness Promotion in Colorectal Cancer Cells. Biochem Genet (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10528-023-10627-y

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