title: Long Noncoding RNA MEG3 Interacts with p53 Protein and Regulates Partial p53 Target Genes in Hepatoma Cells.
abstract: Maternally Expressed Gene 3 (MEG3) encodes a lncRNA which is suggested to function as a tumor suppressor. Previous studies suggested that MEG3 functioned through activation of p53, however, the functional properties of MEG3 remain obscure and their relevance to human diseases is under continuous investigation. Here, we try to illuminate the relationship of MEG3 and p53, and the consequence in hepatoma cells. We find that transfection of expression construct of MEG3 enhances stability and transcriptional activity of p53. Deletion analysis of MEG3 confirms that full length and intact structure of MEG3 are critical for it to activate p53-mediated transactivation. Interestingly, our results demonstrate for the first time that MEG3 can interact with p53 DNA binding domain and various p53 target genes are deregulated after overexpression of MEG3 in hepatoma cells. Furthermore, results of qRT-PCR have shown that MEG3 RNA is lost or reduced in the majority of HCC samples compared with adjacent non-tumorous samples. Ectopic expression of MEG3 in hepatoma cells significantly inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis. In conclusion, our data demonstrates that MEG3 functions as a tumor suppressor in hepatoma cells through interacting with p53 protein to activate p53-mediated transcriptional activity and influence the expression of partial p53 target genes.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China; College of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China; School of Life Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Juanjuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China; College of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fuqiang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tie
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: Yinghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hanjiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: Yongge
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics*; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000235:genetics; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor / Q000502:physiology; D045325:HCT116 Cells; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C498907:MEG3 non-coding RNA, human; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53