Recently, the latest research on "Long noncoding RNACA7-4 promotes autophagy and apoptosis via sponging MIR877-3P and MIR5680 in high glucose-induced vascular endothelial cells" has been published online in Autophagy (First ranking journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Impact Factor: 11.1). This achievement has been finished by Prof. Miao's team from the Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cell and Developmental Biology & School of Life Sciences,SDU. The institution of the first and corresponding author is Shandong University. Doctor Xuan Zhao is the first author and Prof. Miao is the corresponding author.

In the previous study, Prof. Miao along with Prof. Zhao Baoxiang who comes from School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering have identified a new small chemical molecule named 3-benzyl-5-([2-nitrophenoxy] methyl)-dihydrofuran -2(3H)-one (abbreviated as 3BDO) can activate mTOR and inhibit autophagy in vascular endothelial cells (Autophagy.2014 Jun;10(6):957-71). With 3BDO, this team also discovers a new long non-coding RNA:TGFB2-OT1(TGFB2overlapping transcript 1), that regulates lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and oxidized low density lipid protein (oxLDL)-induced vascular endothelial cell autophagy and inflammation (Autophagy. 2015; 11(12): 2172-83). Furthermore, the research achievement published in Autophagy 2014 Jun; 10(6):957-71 is one of the eight representative papers in the project "Molecular mechanism, detection technology and intervention strategy of cardiovascular remodeling" completed by Prof. Zhang Cheng of Qilu Hospital, SDU, which has won the second prize of the National Natural Science Award in year 2018.

In this paper, the team has continued to use 3BDO as a tool, combined with lncRNA chip technology, discovered a novel lncRNA:CA7-4, that regulates autophagy and apoptosis induced by high glucose in vascular endothelial cells. It has been proved that CA7-4as a ceRNA, together with MIR877-3P,MIR5680 and downstream target genes CTNNBIP1, CTNNB1, DPP4, AMPK constitute a new signal pathway regulating vascular endothelial cell autophagy and apoptosis.

As is reported, autophagy plays important roles in cell fate regulation and is closely related to apoptosis. High concentrations of glucose in the blood can induce vascular endothelial cell autophagy and apoptosis, which is a key factor leading to major vascular diseases. Therefore, inhibition of high glucose-caused vascular endothelial cell autophagy and apoptosis is significant for maintaining the function of endothelium. It is necessary to find new factors involved in this process. Additionally,the exploration of new lncRNA and its function is a frontier and hotspot in the field of life science research. Currently, only a few studies have showed lncRNA regulation in vascular endothelial cell autophagy and apoptosis induced by high glucose, and a large number of lncRNAs involved in this process are urgently needed to be investigated. Briefly, lncRNA CA7-4 found in this paper provides new clues for the diagnosis and treatment of vascular-related diseases caused by hyperglycemia.

Autophagy is an international authoritative journal in the field of autophagy research, and latest original papers on the molecular mechanism of autophagy regulation have been published in it. Prof. Miao's research team has published four research papers in Autophagy.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Paper link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15548627.2019.1598750

Translated by Miao Junying

Edited by Che Huiqing