Overexpression of Long Non-Coding RNA AP001505.9 Inhibits Dedifferentiation in Human Hyaline Chondrocyte

Background: Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) requires a large number ofhuman hyaline chondrocytes. Unfortunately, human hyaline chondrocytes oftenundergo dedifferentiation in vitro. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) play aregulatory role in gene expression in many pathological and physiological processes.However, their role in human hyaline chondrocyte dedifferentiation remains unclear.This study aimed to investigate the expression profiles of lncRNAs in human hyalinechondrocyte dedifferentiation.Methods: Human hyaline chondrocytes were cultured in vitro and screened for theoccurrence of dedifferentiation using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR),immunofluorescence, and western blotting. The expression profiles of lncRNAs andmRNAs during dedifferentiation were analyzed by microarray analysis and real-timeqPCR. We used pellet culture to redifferentiate chondrocytes and the expression ofrelated lncRNAs were assessed. The function of lncRNA AP001505.9(ENST00000569966) was determined by overexpression, fluorescence in situhybridization, competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) analysis, and double luciferaselabeling.Results: We probed human hyaline chondrocytes dedifferentiation and identified 334upregulated and 381 downregulated lncRNAs. The expression of downregulatedlncRNA AP001505.9 in dedifferentiation was reversed by pellet culture. Theoverexpression of AP001505.9 inhibited dedifferentiation by promoting theexpression of SRY-Box transcription factor 9 (SOX-9) and inhibiting the expressionof type I collagen (COL1) both in vitro and in vivo.Conclusion: This study reveals for the first time the expression profiles of lncRNAsin human hyaline chondrocyte dedifferentiation, thereby providing a new perspectivefor exploring the potential mechanism of chondrocyte dedifferentiation.