Long Non-Coding RNAs in Brown Adipose Tissue

Abstract

Songjia Lai,1,* Kun Du,1,* Yu Shi,1 Cao Li,1 Guoze Wang,1,2 Shenqiang Hu,1 Xianbo Jia,1 Jie Wang,1 Shiyi Chen1 1Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, People’s Republic of China; 2The Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Monitoring and Disease Control, Ministry of Education, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang 550025, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Songjia LaiFarm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, 211# Huimin Road, Wenjiang 611130, Sichuan, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: Obesity has become a widespread disease that is harmful to human health. Fat homeostasis is essentially maintained by fat accumulation and energy expenditure. Studies on brown adipose tissue (BAT) represent a promising opportunity to identify a pharmaceutical intervention against obesity through increased energy expenditure. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were thought to be critical regulators in a variety of biological processes. Recent studies have revealed that lncRNAs, including ones that are BAT-specific, conserved, and located at key protein-coding genes, function in brown adipogenesis, white adipose browning (ie, beige adipogenesis), and brown thermogenesis. In this review, we describe lncRNA properties and highlight functional lncRNAs in these biological processes, with the goal of establishing links between lncRNAs and BAT. Based on the advances of lncRNAs in the regulation of BAT, we discussed the advantages of potential lncRNA-based obesity drugs. Further BAT lncRNA-based drug development may provide new exciting approaches to defend obesity by regulation of fat homeostasis.Keywords: obesity, BAT, thermogenesis, lncRNAs

Keywords

• obesity
• bat
• thermogenesis
• lncrnas