Date of Award

8-1-2017

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry

First Advisor

Cao, Deliang

Abstract

PART1, TITLE: A p53-inducible long non-coding RNA PICART1 mediating cancer cell proliferation and migration. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) function in the development and progression of cancer, but only a small portion of lncRNAs are characterized thus far. A novel lncRNA transcript with 2.53 kb in length was identified by a transcriptome sequencing analysis, named p53-inducible cancer-associated RNA transcript 1 (PICART1). This PICART1 is upregulated by p53 through a p53-binding site at -1808 to -1783bp. In breast and colorectal cancer cells and tissues, PICART1 expression was decreased. Ectopic expression of the PICART1 suppressed growth, proliferation, migration, and invasion of MCF7, MDA-MB-231 and HCT116 cells whereas silencing of PICART1 stimulated the cell growth and migration. In these cells, the expression of PICART1 lowered down the levels of p-AKT (Thr308 & Ser473) and p-GSK3β (Ser9), and accordingly, β-catenin, cyclin D1 and c-Myc expression were decreased, but p21cip1/Waf1 expression was increased. Together these data suggest that PICART1 is a novel p53-inducible tumor suppressor lncRNA, functioning through the AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin signaling cascade. PART2, TITLE: The novel long non-coding RNA PANCR is a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors in development and progression of cancer. Chromosome 16q22.1 region is frequently deleted in breast cancer, which may contribute to breast carcinogenesis by inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. This study characterized a new lncRNA tumor suppressor, named p53 activating non-coding RNA (PANCR), located in this Chromosome 16q22.1 region. This PANCR lncRNA consists of 1.5kb in length. Our data showed that PANCR was downregulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. In the breast cancer cell lines, PANCR expression appeared reversely correlated with cell malignancy, and in breast cancer tissues, PANCR was downregulated over 2 times in 31 (62.0%) of 50 cases when compared to adjacent normal breast tissues. In breast cancer cells MCF7 cells, ectopic expression of PANCR suppressed cell proliferation in culture, but in contrast, shRNA–mediated silencing of PANCR promoted cell growth and proliferation.

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