The human long noncoding RNA lnc-IL7R regulates the inflammatory response.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), once thought to be transcriptional noise, have been recently shown to regulate a variety of biological processes. However, there is not much knowledge regarding their roles in the inflammatory response. In this study, we performed human lncRNA microarray assays and identified a number of lncRNAs that demonstrated altered expression in response to LPS stimulation. Of these lncRNAs, lnc-IL7R, which overlaps with the 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of the human interleukin-7 receptor α-subunit gene (IL7R) gene, was significantly upregulated in LPS-treated cells. Functionally, lnc-IL7R was capable of diminishing the LPS-induced inflammatory response, demonstrated by elevated expression of LPS-induced E-selectin, VCAM-1, IL-6, and IL-8 in lnc-IL7R knockdown cells. Mechanistically, we found that lnc-IL7R knockdown diminished trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3), a hallmark of silent transcription, at the proximal promoters of the inflammatory mediators. Our data suggest that lnc-IL7R contributes another layer of complexity in regulation of the inflammatory response.
Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Huachun
H
Cui
Na
N
Xie
Zheng
Z
Tan
Sami
S
Banerjee
Victor John
VJ
Thannickal
Edward
E
Abraham
Gang
G
Liu
D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019040:E-Selectin / Q000235:genetics; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000209:etiology*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D008745:Methylation; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000502:physiology*; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7 / Q000235:genetics*; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000235:genetics
D019040:E-Selectin; D006657:Histones; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1
Epigenetic regulation; Gene expression; Inflammation; Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs); lnc-IL7R