摘要:The imprinted
H19 long non-coding RNA, a knowing oncofetal gene, presents a controversial role during the carcinogenesis process since its tumor suppressor or oncogenic activity is not completely elucidated. Since
H19 lncRNA is involved in many biological pathways related to tumorigenesis, we sought to develop a non-cancer lineage with CRISPR-Cas9-mediated
H19 knockdown (
H19-) and observe the changes in a cellular context. To edit the promoter region of
H19, two RNA guides were designed, and the murine C2C12 myoblast cells were transfected.
H19 deletion was determined by DNA sequencing and gene expression by qPCR. We observed a small deletion (~ 60 bp) in the promoter region that presented four predicted transcription binding sites. The deletion reduced
H19 expression (30%) and resulted in increased proliferative activity, altered morphological patterns including cell size and intracellular granularity, without changes in viability. The increased proliferation rate in the
H19- cell seems to facilitate chromosomal abnormalities. The
H19- myoblast presented characteristics similar to cancer cells, therefore the
H19 lncRNA may be an important gene during the initiation of the tumorigenic process. Due to CRISPR/Cas9 permanent edition, the C2C12
H19- knockdown cells allows functional studies of
H19 roles in tumorigenesis, prognosis, metastases, as well as drug resistance and targeted therapy.