HOTAIR regulates lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response in hepatocytes

It has been widely accepted that long-noncoding RNA (lncRNA) HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) emerges as a crucial mediator in inflammation. Here, we first detected HOTAIR in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated normal human liver cell line (L02) and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (C3A, HepG2, and SMMC-7721). Further, we explored the biological function of HOTAIR in LPS-induced hepatocytes (L02 and C3A) lesions and investigated the molecular mechanisms. Besides, we focused on inflammatory signaling crosstalk. The inflammatory insults were assayed by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), cell cycle and apoptosis analysis kit, and immunoblotting assay. HOTAIR level was examined by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. To determine the effect of HOTAIR silence or overexpression in inflammation, we applied quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunoblotting assay, and enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay. Regulator inhibitors of Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK2/STAT3; AG490) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB; BAY-11-7082) were applied to treat cells. Our results suggested that LPS induced the overexpression of HOTAIR in L02, C3A, HepG2, and SMMC-7721 cells. LPS repressed viability, induced apoptosis, and facilitated the expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in L02 and C3A cells. IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were upregulated by HOTAIR overexpression while downregulated by HOTAIR knockdown in LPS-treated cells. We further observed that HOTAIR overexpression accelerated LPS-induced phosphorylation whereas HOTAIR silence blocked this progress. Inhibition of JAK/STAT and NF-κB contributed to the suppression of cytokines which was evoked by LPS. Collectively, our findings indicated that HOTAIR exerted a crucial role in cytokines expression by activating JAK/STAT and NF-κB.