Downregulation of LncRNA OIP5-AS1 Induced by IL-1 beta Aggravates Osteoarthritis via Regulating miR-29b-3p/PGRN

Background Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) OIP5 antisense RNA 1 (OIP5-AS1) is an oncogenic lncRNA; however, its role in osteoarthritis (OA) pathology still remains unknown. Materials and Methods qRT-PCR was performed to measure the expressions of OIP5-AS1, miR-29b-3p and progranulin (PGRN) mRNA in OA cartilage tissues and normal cartilage tissues. Chondrocyte cell lines, CHON-001 and ATDC5, were treated with different doses of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) to induce the inflammatory response. Overexpression plasmids, microRNA mimics, microRNA inhibitors and small interfering RNAs were constructed and transfected into CHON-001 and ATDC5 cells. CCK-8 assay was used for determining the cell viability and Transwell assay was used for monitoring cell migration. Western blot was applied to measure the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was adopted to measure the contents of inflammatory factors. StarBase and TargetScan were used to predict the binding sites between OIP5-AS1 and miR-29b-3p, miR-29b-3p and 3 '-UTR of PGRN respectively, which were verified by dual luciferase reporter assay. Results OIP5-AS1 and PGRN mRNA were downregulated while miR-29b-3p was upregulated in OA tissues and models. The up-regulated OIP5-AS1 facilitated the proliferation and migration of CHON-001 and ATDC5 cells, while ameliorated the apoptosis and inflammatory response. However, miR-29b-3p had opposite effects. PGRN was identified as a target gene of miR-29b-3p, which could be indirectly suppressed by OIP5-AS1 knockdown. Conclusion Downregulation of OIP5-AS1 induced by IL-1 beta could inhibit the proliferation and migration abilities of CHON-001 and ATDC5 cells and facilitate the apoptosis and inflammation response via regulating miR-29b-3p/PGRN axis.