Long non-coding RNA NR2F1-AS1 induces breast cancer lung metastatic dormancy by regulating NR2F1 and ΔNp63

Yingjie Liu, Peiyuan Zhang, Qiuyao Wu, Houqin Fang, Yuan Wang, Yansen Xiao, Min Cong, Tingting Wang, Yunfei He, Chengxin Ma, Pu Tian, Yajun Liang, Lun-Xiu Qin, Qingcheng Yang, Qifeng Yang, Lujian Liao and Guohong Hu ()
Additional contact information
Yingjie Liu: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peiyuan Zhang: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Qiuyao Wu: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Houqin Fang: East China Normal University
Yuan Wang: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yansen Xiao: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Min Cong: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tingting Wang: East China Normal University
Yunfei He: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengxin Ma: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Pu Tian: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yajun Liang: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lun-Xiu Qin: Fudan University
Qingcheng Yang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital
Qifeng Yang: Qilu Hospital of Shandong University
Lujian Liao: East China Normal University
Guohong Hu: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Disseminated tumor cells often fall into a long term of dormant stage, characterized by decreased proliferation but sustained survival, in distant organs before awakening for metastatic growth. However, the regulatory mechanism of metastatic dormancy and awakening is largely unknown. Here, we show that the epithelial-like and mesenchymal-like subpopulations of breast cancer stem-like cells (BCSCs) demonstrate different levels of dormancy and tumorigenicity in lungs. The long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) NR2F1-AS1 (NAS1) is up-regulated in the dormant mesenchymal-like BCSCs, and functionally promotes tumor dissemination but reduces proliferation in lungs. Mechanistically, NAS1 binds to NR2F1 mRNA and recruits the RNA-binding protein PTBP1 to promote internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-mediated NR2F1 translation, thus leading to suppression of ΔNp63 transcription by NR2F1. Furthermore, ΔNp63 downregulatio results in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, reduced tumorigenicity and enhanced dormancy of cancer cells in lungs. Overall, the study links BCSC plasticity with metastatic dormancy, and reveals the lncRNA as an important regulator of both processes.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25552-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-25552-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25552-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().