Human Endometrial Carcinogenesis Is Associated with Significant Reduction in Long Non-Coding RNA, TERRA

Human Endometrial Carcinogenesis Is Associated with Significant Reduction in Long Non-Coding RNA, TERRA

Telomeres are transcribed as long non-coding RNAs called TERRAs (Telomeric repeat containing RNA) that participate in a variety of cellular regulatory functions. High telomerase activity (TA) is associated with endometrial cancer (EC). This study aimed to examine the levels of three TERRAs, transcri...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Meera Adishesh, Rafah Alnafakh, Duncan M. Baird, Rhiannon E. Jones, Shannon Simon, Lucy Button, Areege M. Kamal, John Kirwan, S. Bridget DeCruze, Josephine Drury, Gabriele Saretzki, Dharani K. Hapangama
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
TERRA
long non-coding RNA
telomerase
endometrium
telomeres
telomere length
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/22/8686
Description
Summary:Telomeres are transcribed as long non-coding RNAs called TERRAs (Telomeric repeat containing RNA) that participate in a variety of cellular regulatory functions. High telomerase activity (TA) is associated with endometrial cancer (EC). This study aimed to examine the levels of three TERRAs, transcribed at chromosomes 1q-2q-4q-10q-13q-22q, 16p and 20q in healthy (<i>n</i> = 23) and pathological (<i>n</i> = 24) human endometrium and to examine their association with cellular proliferation, TA and telomere lengths. EC samples demonstrated significantly reduced levels of TERRAs for Chromosome 16p (Ch-16p) (<i>p</i> < 0.002) and Chromosome 20q (Ch-20q) (<i>p</i> = 0.0006), when compared with the postmenopausal samples. No significant correlation was found between TERRA levels and TA but both Ch-16p and Ch-20q TERRA levels negatively correlated with the proliferative marker Ki67 (r = −0.35, <i>p</i> = 0.03 and r = −0.42, <i>p</i> = 0.01 respectively). Evaluation of single telomere length analysis (STELA) at XpYp telomeres demonstrated a significant shortening in EC samples when compared with healthy tissues (<i>p</i> = 0.002). We detected TERRAs in healthy human endometrium and observed altered individual TERRA-specific levels in malignant endometrium. The negative correlation of TERRAs with cellular proliferation along with their significant reduction in EC may suggest a role for TERRAs in carcinogenesis and thus future research should explore TERRAs as potential therapeutic targets in EC.
ISSN:1661-6596
1422-0067

Similar Items