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A novel natural antisense transcript at human SOX9 locus is down-regulated in cancer and stem cells

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Abstract

Objective

SOX9 is a key transcription factor with important roles in regulating proliferation and differentiation of various cell types. Dysregulation of SOX9 expression has been involved with pathogenesis of different developmental, degenerative, and neoplastic disorders. Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are long non-coding RNAs with increasing significance in regulation of gene expression. However, the presence of a NAT at SOX9 locus has been so far unclear.

Result

We detected a natural antisense transcript at SOX9 locus (SOX9-NAT) through strand-specific RT-PCR. In contrast to SOX9 sense RNA (mRNA), SOX9-NAT was down-regulated in cancer tissues and cell lines compared with their normal counterparts. In addition, reciprocal to SOX9 mRNA, SOX9-NAT was also down-regulated in human embryonic stem cells in comparison with human fibroblasts in vitro.

Conclusion

The negative correlation between SOX9 mRNA and SOX9-NAT was confirmed by analyzing qPCR data, as well as RNA-Seq datasets of several human cancers. Our data suggest a functional role for SOX9-NAT in the regulation of SOX9 mRNA as a potential target in cancer treatment and regenerative medicine.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (grant number: 14325). Our team appreciates the cellular and molecular biology research center, Tehran, Iran for providing space and facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohamad Eftekhary, Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh, Kazem Sharifi & Hossein Ghanbarian

  2. Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh, Zohreh Bolandi, Neda Mokhberian & Kazem Sharifi

  3. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi

  4. Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi

  5. Urogenital Stem Cell Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi & Hossein Ghanbarian

Authors
  1. Mohamad Eftekhary
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  2. Samira Mohammadi-Yeganeh
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  3. Zohreh Bolandi
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  4. Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi
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  5. Neda Mokhberian
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  6. Kazem Sharifi
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  7. Hossein Ghanbarian
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Contributions

M.E., S.M.H., K.S., and H.G. comprehended and designed the study. M.E., S.M.H., N.M., Z.B., H.G., and S.M.-Y. performed the experiments. M.E., K.S., S.M.-Y., and H.G. analyzed the data and construed the results. M.E., N.M., Z.B., and H.G. prepared the manuscript. M.E., K.S., and H.G. reviewed during the preparation of manuscript and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kazem Sharifi or Hossein Ghanbarian.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest concerning the publication of this paper.

Ethical approval

All experiments performed in this study were in agreement with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee at the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

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Cite this article

Eftekhary, M., Mohammadi-Yeganeh, S., Bolandi, Z. et al. A novel natural antisense transcript at human SOX9 locus is down-regulated in cancer and stem cells. Biotechnol Lett 42, 329–339 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-019-02774-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-019-02774-3

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