Screening and validation of lncRNAs and circRNAs as miRNA sponges

Abstract

Intensive research in past two decades has uncovered the presence and importance of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), which includes microRNAs (miRs) and long ncRNAs (lncRNAs). These two classes of ncRNAs interact to a certain extent, as some lncRNAs bind to miRs to sequester them. Such lncRNAs are collectively called 'competing endogenous RNAs' or 'miRNA sponges'. In this study, we screened for lncRNAs that may act as miRNA sponges using the publicly available data sets and databases. To uncover the roles of miRNA sponges, loss-of-function experiments were conducted, which revealed the biological roles as miRNA sponges. LINC00324 is important for the cell survival by binding to miR-615-5p leading to the de-repression of its target BTG2. LOC400043 controls several biological functions via sequestering miR-28-3p and miR-96-5p, thereby changing the expressions of transcriptional regulators. Finally, we also screened for circular RNAs (circRNAs) that may function as miRNA sponges. The results were negative at least for the selected circRNAs in this study. In conclusion, miRNA sponges can be identified by applying a series of bioinformatics techniques and validated with biological experiments.

Salivary Circular RNAs Hsa_Circ_0001874 and Hsa_Circ_0001971 as Novel Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…These results indicate that the altered expression of salivary hsa_circ_0001874 and hsa_circ_0001971 may be related to their involvement in the development and progression of OSCC. Studies have revealed that circRNAs can serve as a miRNA sponge and can interact with miRNA, resulting in an imbalance between miRNA and its target genes, which leads to the initiation and progression of a variety of diseases including cancer [28,29]. The relationship between miRNAs and OSCC suggest that circRNAs might be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of OSCC.…”

Knockdown of Long Non‐Coding RNA‐ZFAS1 Protects Cardiomyocytes Against Acute Myocardial Infarction Via Anti‐Apoptosis by Regulating miR‐150/CRP

“…Lower circulating level of miR‐150 might be a novel marker for left ventricular remodeling in AMI patients (Devaux et al, ). Note that lncRNAs can interact with miRNAs and then exert their biological function as miRNA sponges (Militello et al, ). So we speculated that ZFAS1 might regulate the expression of miR‐150, which was a multifunctional molecular in AMI animal models.…”

Comprehensive analysis of aberrantly expressed profiles of lncRNAs and miRNAs with associated ceRNA network in muscle-invasive bladder cancer

“…In 2011, salmena and colleagues proposed a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis that lncRNAs, mRNAs and other RNAs act as natural miRNA sponges to suppress miRNA function by using shared MREs [8]. This hypothesis has been validated experimentally by some researchers that lncRNA functioned as ceRNA to communicate with mRNAs through competing for shared miRNAs [9]. LncRNAs that harbor similar sequence to their targeted miRNAs, can sequester miRNAs away from mRNAs.…”