Abstract
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in a variety of biological and cellular processes as well as in physiologic and pathophysiologic events. This review summarizes recent literature about the role of the lncRNA nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) in non-cancerous diseases with a special focus on viral infections and neurodegenerative diseases. In contrast to its role as competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) in carcinogenesis, NEAT1’s function in non-cancerous diseases predominantly focuses on paraspeckle-mediated effects on gene expression. This involves processes such as nuclear retention of mRNAs or sequestration of paraspeckle proteins from specific promoters, resulting in transcriptional induction or repression of genes involved in regulating the immune system or neurodegenerative processes. NEAT1 expression is aberrantly—mostly upregulated—in non-cancerous pathological conditions, indicating that it could serve as potential prognostic biomarker. Additional studies are needed to elucidate NEAT1’s capability to be a therapeutic target for non-cancerous diseases.
Highlights
According to the project Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), approximately 70% of the human genome is transcribed into RNA but less than 2% is protein-coding [1]
Nishimoto et al [116] were able to show a direct interaction of nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) with two RNA-binding proteins, both of which are mutated in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, i.e., TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) [117] and fused in sarcoma/translocated in liposarcoma (FUS/TLS) [118]
Summarizing recent data pertaining to NEAT1, one can draw the conclusion that this Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs)
Summary
According to the project Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), approximately 70% of the human genome is transcribed into RNA but less than 2% is protein-coding [1]. Based on this information, it is not surprising that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have increasingly become a strong focus of research at academic centers [2]. While miRNAs and their significance in cellular regulation were discovered in 1993 [9,10], within the past few years, lncRNAs have emerged as interesting molecules [11,12]. The lncRNA NEAT1 is the main actor in this review and is described in detail, ranging from its discovery and architecture to its cellular and physiological functions
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