MINCR is a MYC-induced lncRNA able to modulate MYC's transcriptional network in Burkitt lymphoma cells.

Authors:
Gero Doose, Andrea Haake, Stephan H Bernhart, Cristina López, Sujitha Duggimpudi, Franziska Wojciech, Anke K Bergmann, Arndt Borkhardt, Birgit Burkhardt, Alexander Claviez, Lora Dimitrova, Siegfried Haas, Jessica I Hoell, Michael Hummel, Dennis Karsch, Wolfram Klapper, Karsten Kleo, Helene Kretzmer, Markus Kreuz, Ralf Küppers, Chris Lawerenz, Dido Lenze, Markus Loeffler, Luisa Mantovani-Löffler, Peter Möller, German Ott, Julia Richter, Marius Rohde, Philip Rosenstiel, Andreas Rosenwald, Markus Schilhabel, Markus Schneider, Ingrid Scholz, Stephan Stilgenbauer, Hendrik G Stunnenberg, Monika Szczepanowski, Lorenz Trümper, Marc A Weniger, - -, Steve Hoffmann, Reiner Siebert, Ingram Iaccarino
Year of publication:
2015
Volume:
112
Issue:
38
Issn:
0027-8424
Journal title abbreviated:
P NATL ACAD SCI USA
Journal title long:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Impact factor:
12.779
Abstract:
Despite the established role of the transcription factor MYC in cancer, little is known about the impact of a new class of transcriptional regulators, the long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), on MYC ability to influence the cellular transcriptome. Here, we have intersected RNA-sequencing data from two MYC-inducible cell lines and a cohort of 91 B-cell lymphomas with or without genetic variants resulting in MYC overexpression. We identified 13 lncRNAs differentially expressed in IG-MYC-positive Burkitt lymphoma and regulated in the same direction by MYC in the model cell lines. Among them, we focused on a lncRNA that we named MYC-induced long noncoding RNA (MINCR), showing a strong correlation with MYC expression in MYC-positive lymphomas. To understand its cellular role, we performed RNAi and found that MINCR knockdown is associated with an impairment in cell cycle progression. Differential gene expression analysis after RNAi showed a significant enrichment of cell cycle genes among the genes down-regulated after MINCR knockdown. Interestingly, these genes are enriched in MYC binding sites in their promoters, suggesting that MINCR acts as a modulator of the MYC transcriptional program. Accordingly, MINCR knockdown was associated with a reduction in MYC binding to the promoters of selected cell cycle genes. Finally, we show that down-regulation of Aurora kinases A and B and chromatin licensing and DNA replication factor 1 may explain the reduction in cellular proliferation observed on MINCR knockdown. We, therefore, suggest that MINCR is a newly identified player in the MYC transcriptional network able to control the expression of cell cycle genes.