lncRNA IGHC<i>γ</i>1 Acts as a ceRNA to Regulate Macrophage Inflammation via the miR-6891-3p/TLR4 Axis in Osteoarthritis
Pengjun Zhang, Jian-Mei Sun, Caihong Liang, Bingjie Gu, Yang Xu, Hongying Lu, Bo Cao, Hao Xu
Abstract
Accumulating data have implicated that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in osteoarthritis (OA), which may function as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) of microRNAs (miRNAs). lncRNA IGHC γ 1 has been demonstrated to regulate inflammation and autoimmunity. Nonetheless, the altering effect of IGHC γ 1 in OA remains unclear. This study is aimed at investigating the mechanism and function of lncRNA IGHC γ 1 in OA. CCK-8, EdU, and transwell assays were used to estimate macrophage proliferation and migration. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to estimate the local expression of lncRNA IGHC γ 1 in macrophages. Luciferase reporter assay was adopted to validate the ceRNA role of IGHC γ 1 as miRNA sponge. lncRNA IGHC γ 1 was primarily localized in macrophage cytoplasm and upregulated in OA. miR-6891-3p inhibited macrophage proliferation, migration, and inflammatory response by targeting TLR4, while lncRNA IGHC γ 1 promoted TLR4 expression by functioning as a ceRNA for miR-6891-3p through the NF- κ B signal in macrophages. This study strongly supports that lncRNA IGHC γ 1 regulates inflammatory response via regulating the miR-6891-3p/TLR4/NF- κ B axis in macrophages.