LncRNA OIP5-AS1/cyrano suppresses GAK expression to control mitosis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to regulate the expression of mRNAs with which they share partial complementarity. We sought to identify the mechanism through which the lncRNA OIP5-AS1, which is abundant in the cytoplasm, suppressed cell proliferation. Silencing of OIP5-AS1 in human cervical carcinoma cells revealed the appearance of many aberrant (monopolar, multipolar, misaligned) mitotic spindles. By biotin-oligomer affinity pulldown, proteomic, and bioinformatic analyses, we identified a subset of human cell cycle regulatory proteins encoded by mRNAs that were capable of interacting with OIP5-AS1. Further investigation revealed that GAK mRNA, which encodes a cyclin G-associated kinase important for mitotic progression, was a prominent target of OIP5-AS1. The interaction between these two transcripts led to a reduction in GAK mRNA stability and GAK protein abundance, as determined in cells in which OIP5-AS1 levels were increased or decreased. Importantly, the aberrant mitotic cell division seen after silencing OIP5-AS1 was partly rescued if GAK was simultaneously silenced. These findings indicate that the abnormal mitoses seen after silencing OIP5-AS1 was caused by an untimely rise in GAK levels and suggest that OIP5-AS1 suppresses cell proliferation at least in part by reducing GAK levels RNA from HeLa cell lines was microarrayed after either MS2-pulldown against empty-MS2 (control) or the lncRNA OIP5-AS1/Cyrano-MS2 (Cyrano), or total RNA from siRNA transfection with a control siRNA (Ctl_si) or OIP5-AS1/Cyrano (Cyrano_si). Four biological repeats were examined per group.