A Novel Natural Antisense Transcript at Human SOX9 Locus is Down-Regulated in Cancer and Stem Cells.

OBJECTIVE:SOX9 is a key transcription factor with important roles in regulating proliferation and differentiation of various cell types. Dysregulation of SOX9 expression has been involved with pathogenesis of different developmental, degenerative, and neoplastic disorders. Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are long non-coding RNAs with increasing significance in regulation of gene expression. However, the presence of a NAT at SOX9 locus has been so far unclear.RESULT:We detected a natural antisense transcript at SOX9 locus (SOX9-NAT) through strand-specific RT-PCR. In contrast to SOX9 sense RNA (mRNA), SOX9-NAT was down-regulated in cancer tissues and cell lines compared with their normal counterparts. In addition, reciprocal to SOX9 mRNA, SOX9-NAT was also down-regulated in human embryonic stem cells in comparison with human fibroblasts in vitro.CONCLUSION:The negative correlation between SOX9 mRNA and SOX9-NAT was confirmed by analyzing qPCR data, as well as RNA-Seq datasets of several human cancers. Our data suggest a functional role for SOX9-NAT in the regulation of SOX9 mRNA as a potential target in cancer treatment and regenerative medicine.