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The lncRNA GATA6-AS epigenetically regulates endothelial gene expression via interaction with LOXL2.

Author
Abstract
:

Impaired or excessive growth of endothelial cells contributes to several diseases. However, the functional involvement of regulatory long non-coding RNAs in these processes is not well defined. Here, we show that the long non-coding antisense transcript of GATA6 (GATA6-AS) interacts with the epigenetic regulator LOXL2 to regulate endothelial gene expression via changes in histone methylation. Using RNA deep sequencing, we find that GATA6-AS is upregulated in endothelial cells during hypoxia. Silencing of GATA6-AS diminishes TGF-β2-induced endothelial-mesenchymal transition in vitro and promotes formation of blood vessels in mice. We identify LOXL2, known to remove activating H3K4me3 chromatin marks, as a GATA6-AS-associated protein, and reveal a set of angiogenesis-related genes that are inversely regulated by LOXL2 and GATA6-AS silencing. As GATA6-AS silencing reduces H3K4me3 methylation of two of these genes, periostin and cyclooxygenase-2, we conclude that GATA6-AS acts as negative regulator of nuclear LOXL2 function.

Year of Publication
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2018
Journal
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Nature communications
Volume
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9
Issue
:
1
Number of Pages
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237
Date Published
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2018
URL
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02431-1
DOI
:
10.1038/s41467-017-02431-1
Short Title
:
Nat Commun
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