Lnc-GULP1-2:1 Affects Granulosa Cell Proliferation by Regulating COL3A1 Expression and Localization​

Abstract

Backgrounds: Long non-coding RNA is a kind of RNA molecule with a transcript length of more than 200 nt and lacking protein coding ability. Recent studies have found that it is widely involved in many pathological and physiological processes. In our previous study, we found that lnc-GULP1-2:1 was significantly down-regulated in the ovarian cortical tissue of patients with primary ovarian insufficiency and predicted that lnc-GULP1-2:1 has a regulatory effect on COL3A1. Results: In this study, we found that lnc-GULP1-2:1 was mainly localized in the cytoplasm of luteinized granulosa cells and was lower expressed in patients with diminished ovarian reserve but highly expressed in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. Overexpression of lnc-GULP1-2:1 in KGN cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, which may be related to the regulation of cell cycle related genes CCND2 and p16. To further investigate the regulation of lnc-GULP1-2:1 on COL3A1, RNA analysis revealed a positive correlation between the expression of lnc-GULP1-2:1 and COL3A1 in multiple cell lines, and this was consistent in luteinized granulosa cells from patients with different ovarian functions. We also found that overexpression of lnc-GULP1-2:1 in KGN cells promoted the expression and migration of COL3A1 into the nucleus. Silencing COL3A1 gene in KGN cells also significantly inhibited cell proliferation, which may be related to the regulation of CCND2 gene expression. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that lnc-GULP1-2:1 may participate in the regulation of granulosa cell proliferation by regulating the expression and localization of COL3A1 protein, which will provide a new idea for understanding the regulatory mechanism of follicular development and a new strategy for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to follicular development disorders in the future.