Articles

Transcription factor and microRNA interactions in lung cells: an inhibitory link between NK2 homeobox 1, miR-200c and the developmental and oncogenic factors Nfib and Myb

Tagne, Jean-Bosco; Mohtar, Omar R.; Campbell, Joshua D.; Lakshminarayanan, Meenakshi; Huang, Jingshu; Hinds, Anne C.; Lu, Jining; Ramirez, Maria I.

Background:
The transcription factor NK2 homeobox 1 (Nkx2-1) plays essential roles in epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation in mouse and human lung development and tumorigenesis. A better understanding of genes and pathways downstream of Nkx2-1 will clarify the multiple roles of this critical lung factor. Nkx2-1 regulates directly or indirectly numerous protein-coding genes; however, there is a paucity of information about Nkx2-1-regulated microRNAs (miRNAs).

Methods and results:
By miRNA array analyses of mouse epithelial cell lines in which endogenous Nkx2-1 was knocked-down, we revealed that 29 miRNAs were negatively regulated including miR-200c, and 39 miRNAs were positively regulated by Nkx2-1 including miR-1195. Mouse lungs lacking functional phosphorylated Nkx2-1 showed increased expression of miR-200c and alterations in the expression of other top regulated miRNAs. Moreover, chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed binding of NKX2-1 protein to regulatory regions of these miRNAs. Promoter reporter assays indicated that 1kb of the miR-200c 5′ flanking region was transcriptionally active but did not mediate Nkx2-1- repression of miR-200c expression. 3′UTR reporter assays support a direct regulation of the predicted targets Nfib and Myb by miR-200c.

Conclusions:
These studies suggest that Nkx2-1 controls the expression of specific miRNAs in lung epithelial cells. In particular, we identified a regulatory link between Nkx2-1, the known tumor suppressor miR-200c, and the developmental and oncogenic transcription factors Nfib and Myb, adding new players to the regulatory mechanisms driven by Nkx2-1 in lung epithelial cells that may have implications in lung development and tumorigenesis.

Keywords:

microRNA Transcription factors Gene expression Lung epithelial cells Targets

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Also Published In

Title
Respiratory Research
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-015-0186-6

More About This Work

Academic Units
Medicine
Published Here
July 31, 2015