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LncRNA CACClnc promotes chemoresistance of colorectal cancer by modulating alternative splicing of RAD51

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in carcinogenesis. However, the effect of lncRNA on chemoresistance and RNA alternative splicing remains largely unknown. In this study, we identified a novel lncRNA, CACClnc, which was upregulated and associated with chemoresistance and poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). CACClnc promoted CRC resistance to chemotherapy via promoting DNA repair and enhancing homologous recombination in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, CACClnc specifically bound to Y-box binding protein 1 (YB1, a splicing factor) and U2AF65 (a subunit of U2AF splicing factor), promoting the interaction between YB1 and U2AF65, and then modulated alternative splicing (AS) of RAD51 mRNA, and consequently altered CRC cell biology. In addition, expression of exosomal CACClnc in peripheral plasma of CRC patients can effectively predict the chemotherapy effect of patients before treatment. Thus, measuring and targeting CACClnc and its associated pathway could yield valuable insight into clinical management and might ameliorate CRC patients’ outcomes.

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Fig. 1: CACClnc is associated with chemotherapy response and recurrence of CRC patients.
Fig. 2: CACClnc promotes chemoresistance in CRC.
Fig. 3: CACClnc is regulated by m6A modification in CRC cells.
Fig. 4: CACClnc promotes chemoresistance and is involved in homologous recombination repair in CRC.
Fig. 5: YB1 is responsible for CACClnc mediated chemoresistance.
Fig. 6: CACClnc inhibits aberrant RNA splicing of RAD51.
Fig. 7: CACClnc inhibits aberrant alternative splicing (AS) of RAD51 via binding with YB1 and U2AF65.
Fig. 8: RAD51 participates in CACClnc-mediated chemoresistance.

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Data availability

The RNA sequence data have been deposited in NCBI’s Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) and are accessible through GEO Series accession number GSE158559.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation (82230016, 82272979, 82073115, 81891901, 82200603); Shanghai Municipal Education Commission—Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant Support (No.20152512, 20161309); Guangzhou Municipality Bureau of Science and Technology (No.202201020281).

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JH, HYC designed the experiments; XYZ, DM, BQX, DBS, JH, MHY conducted the experiments; XYZ wrote the original draft; JH, BQX and HYC reviewed and edited the paper.

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Correspondence to Haoyan Chen or Jie Hong.

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Zhang, X., Ma, D., Xuan, B. et al. LncRNA CACClnc promotes chemoresistance of colorectal cancer by modulating alternative splicing of RAD51. Oncogene 42, 1374–1391 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-023-02657-y

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