Inhibition of lncRNA MIR31HG Promotes Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells.

Osteogenic differentiation and bone formation is suppressed under condition of inflammation induced by proinflammation cytokines. A number of studies indicate miRNAs play a significant role in tumor necrosis factor-α-induced inhibition of bone formation, but whether long non-coding RNAs are also involved in this process remains unknown. In this study, we evaluated the role of MIR31HG in osteogenesis of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) in vitro and in vivo. The results suggested that knockdown of MIR31HG not only significantly promoted osteogenic differentiation, but also dramatically overcame the inflammation-induced inhibition of osteogenesis in hASCs. Mechanistically, we found MIR31HG regulated bone formation and inflammation via interacting with NF-κB. The p65 subunit bound to the MIR31HG promoter and promoted MIR31HG expression. In turn, MIR31HG directly interacted with IκBα and participated in NF-κB activation, which builds a regulatory circuitry with NF-κB. Targeting this MIR31HG-NF-κB regulatory loop may be helpful to improve the osteogenic capacity of hASCs under inflammatory microenvironment in bone tissue engineering. Stem Cells 2016;34:2707-2720.