LncRNA SNHG5 regulates SOX4 expression through competitive binding to miR-489-3p in acute myeloid leukemia

Currently, lncRNA plays an important role in the occurrence and development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), including SNHG5. However, the role and mechanism of SNHG5 in AML remains unclear. In this study, we explored the regulatory mechanism of SNHG5 in the development of AML.

QRT-PCR was used to investigate the expression of SNHG5, miR-489-3p, and SOX. The proliferation and apoptosis of AML cells were analyzed by cell transfection, cell counting kit-8 (CCK8), and flow cytometric analysis. Moreover, the expression analysis of marker proteins was detected by western blot. Through luciferase activity assay, RNA pull-down, and RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP), we proved that SNHG5 could bind miR-489-3p and SOX4 which might be the target gene of miR-489-3p.

We first found that SNHG5 was up-regulated in both AML patient bone marrow samples and various AML cell lines. Second, we found that knockdown of SNHG5 inhibited proliferation of AML cells and promoted apoptosis. It was found that SNHG5 could bind miR-489-3p, and the relative expression of SNHG5 was negatively correlated with miR-489-3p. Further results suggested that SOX4 might be the target gene of miR-489-3p. Finally, our experimental data indicated that knockdown of SNHG5 could reduce the tumor volume and down-regulated SOX4 levels in vivo.

Our results demonstrated that SNHG5 affected the expression of SOX4 through binding miR-489-3p to regulate proliferation and apoptosis of AML, which might act as a prospective prognostic biological marker and a promising therapeutic target for AML.