Competitive endogenous RNA is an intrinsic component of EMT regulatory circuits and modulates EMT

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1637 - 12
• Main Authors: Liu, Yuwei, Xue, Mengzhu, Du, Shaowei, Feng, Wanwan, Zhang, Ke, Zhang, Liwen, Liu, Haiyue, Jia, Guoyi, Wu, Lingshuang, Hu, Xin, Chen, Luonan, Wang, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.04.2019; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 38/1; 38/109; 38/39; 38/70; 38/77; 38/89; 38/91; 631/114/2114; 631/337/384/331; 631/553/2712; 631/67; A549 Cells; Biological activity; Biology; Cancer; Carcinogenesis - genetics; Computational Biology; Computer applications; Computer simulation; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - genetics; Extracellular Matrix Proteins - genetics; Feedback loops; Fibronectins - genetics; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Gene Regulatory Networks; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hypotheses; Laboratories; Mesenchyme; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; miRNA; Models, Biological; multidisciplinary; Negative feedback; Neoplasms - genetics; Physiology; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Stem cells; Transcription; Transforming Growth Factor beta - genetics; Transforming Growth Factor beta - metabolism; Tumorigenesis
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09649-1

The competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis suggests an intrinsic mechanism to regulate biological processes. However, whether the dynamic changes of ceRNAs can modulate miRNA activities remains controversial. Here, we examine the dynamics of ceRNAs during TGF-β-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We observe that TGFBI, a transcript highly induced during EMT in A549 cells, acts as the ceRNA for miR-21 to modulate EMT. We further identify FN1 as the ceRNA for miR-200c in the canonical SNAIL-ZEB-miR200 circuit in MCF10A cells. Experimental assays and computational simulations demonstrate that the dynamically induced ceRNAs are directly coupled with the canonical double negative feedback loops and are critical to the induction of EMT. These results help to establish the relevance of ceRNA in cancer EMT and suggest that ceRNA is an intrinsic component of the EMT regulatory circuit and may represent a potential target to disrupt EMT during tumorigenesis. Competitive endogenous RNAs help to regulate biological processes by regulating miRNA activity levels. Here the author show TGFBI acts as a ceRNA for miR-21 in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.