Omics · study · 2026
lncRNA 3222401L13Rik/ENSG00000272070 modulates microglial inflammatory programs in association with PU.1
Listed in NCBI GEO
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key regulators of brain function, but their contribution to microglial aging and neurodegenerative disease remains largely unknown.
Description
Because only 1.5% of the human genome encodes proteins, whereas the vast majority of transcripts belong to the largely unexplored non-coding RNAome, elucidating the functions of non-coding RNAs provides an unprecedented opportunity to expand the space for therapeutic discovery.
We recently identified the glia-enriched lncRNA 3222401L13Rik as upregulated in the aging mouse hippocampus. Here, we investigated its function in microglia and its human homolog ENSG00000272070. We found that 3222401L13Rik is expressed in both astrocytes and microglia and increases with age.
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Knockdown of 3222401L13Rik in primary microglia led to enhanced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNFα, and increased phagocytic activity. RNA-sequencing revealed widespread transcriptional changes enriched for TNF and complement signaling pathways. The human homolog ENSG00000272070 showed conserved functions in iPSC-derived microglia, where its loss similarly promoted inflammatory gene expression and phagocytosis.
Mechanistically, 3222401L13Rik interacts with the microglial transcription factor PU.1, and its depletion overlapped with PU.1-driven transcriptional programs. Consistent with these findings, ENSG00000272070 expression was significantly reduced in postmortem Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains, and AD-associated genes were enriched among 3222401L13Rik-regulated targets. Together, our results identify 3222401L13Rik/ENSG00000272070 as a conserved, aging-associated lncRNA that modulates microglial inflammatory states through interaction with PU.1.
This work links glial lncRNA regulation to AD-related neuroinflammation and suggests 3222401L13Rik as a potential molecular target to fine-tune microglial activity in neurodegenerative diseases.
Links
Get the data
- GEO FTP directory ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE320nnn/GSE320423 ↗
download · from NCBI GEO
Where it is published
- GEO accession page ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE320423 ↗
landing page · from NCBI GEO
Documentation and papers
- PRJNA1428168 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1428168 ↗
project · from NCBI GEO
Topics
- Stated by source
- Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing · Mus musculus
- From keywords
- Life Sciences
- Inferred from text
- Disease 75%
Provenance · 1 source records, 8 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| NCBI GEO | GSE320423 | 12 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| access_level | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[disease].local:disease:disease | enrichment · NCBI GEO | keyword-concept-rules@1.0.0 | title+description (75%) |
| concepts[field].local:field:life-sciences | mapping · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[method].geo_series_type:expression-profiling-by-high-throughput-sequencing | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /gdstype |
| concepts[organism].NCBITaxon:10090 | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /taxon |
| description | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /summary |
| publication_date | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · NCBI GEO | connector:ncbi_geo@1.0.0 | /title |