Long noncoding RNA expression profiles during the NEL‐like 1 protein–induced osteogenic differentiation
Kai Xia, Xiao Cen, Liyuan Yu, Xinqi Huang, Wentian Sun, Zhihe Zhao, Jun Liu
Abstract
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important modulators of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in cellular differentiation. However, the regulatory mechanisms of lncRNAs in NEL-like 1 (NELL-1)-induced osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells remain elusive. Expression profiles of lncRNAs and messenger RNAs during NELL-1-induced osteogenesis were obtained using high-throughput sequencing. Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis, and gene coexpression networks were performed. We identified 323 statistically differentially expressed lncRNAs during osteogenesis and NELL-1-induced osteogenesis, and three lncRNAs (ENST00000602964, ENST00000326734, and TCONS_00006792) were identified as core regulators. Hedgehog pathway markers, including IHH and GLI1, were downregulated, while the antagonists of this pathway (GLI3 and HHIP) were upregulated during NELL-1-induced osteogenesis. In this process, the antagonist of Wnt, SFRP1, was downregulated. According to the analysis, we speculated that lncRNAs played important roles in NELL-1-induced osteogenesis via the crosstalk between Hedgehog and Wnt pathways.