NEAT1 Boosts the Development of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Through Targeting miR-324-5p/RAN

Background. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified in multiple cancers. Recently, NEAT1 is found to be up regulated in cervical cancer. Since the relationship between NEAT1 and thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) has not been clarified, our study focused on the role of NEAT1 in TAA. Methods. Bioinformatics, RNA pulls down and luciferase reporter assay were used to discover and determine miR-324-5p to be a target of NEAT1. RT-qPCR was used to examine NEAT1, RAN and miR-324-5p expression. Results. NEAT1 was up-regulated in TAA patients, as well as HAoSMC and HA-VSMC cells. Down-regulation of NEAT1 could inhibit the proliferative abilities while promoting apoptosis of TAA cells. MiR-324-5p expression was down-regulated in both TAA tissues and cells. Then, RAN was selected out as a target of miR-324-5p. More interestingly, miR-324-5p had inhibitory effects on malignant behaviors of TAA cells. RAN was negatively related with miR-324-5p while positively correlated with NEAT1 in the tissues. Finally, the data of rescue assays manifested that RAN up-regulation could countervail the influence of down-regulation of NEAT1 on TAA cells. Conclusion. NEAT1 could contribute to the malignant behaviors of TAA cells by targeting miR-324-5p/RAN. NEAT1 might be an underlying target for the therapy of TAA. (c) 2021 Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.