{"paper_id":"0d2d5a74-f5dd-4e47-b6a3-40f68af40645","body_text":"Breast cancer is the most common tumor in women and caused 508,000 deaths worldwide in 2011 [ 1 ]. Recent advances in molecular classification of this pathology allowed personalized-treatment of patients and better outcomes, like the use of Herceptin in patients with overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her-2) [ 2 ]. However, some classes of breast cancer such as triple-negative, which is characterized by neither expression of progesterone receptor (PR), estrogen receptor, nor Her-2, remains a poor prognostic for patients. The discovery of new molecular actors involved in the regulation of breast cancer development is essential to improve the management of this disease. During the last decades, plenty of non-coding RNAs have been involved in breast cancer development [ 3 ]. The study of non-coding RNAs could lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies and better outcomes for patients with triple negative breast cancer, and more generally to patients with cancer.\nThe Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) consortium revealed that up to 80% of the human genome is transcribed into functional RNAs, but only 2% of the genome codes for proteins [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. RNAs without coding potential are referred to as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Based on theirs lengths, they can be classified into two classes: small ncRNAs (<200 nt) and long ncRNAs (>200 nt). Small ncRNAs include microRNAs (miRs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) or small nucleolar RNA (snoRNAs). miRs, siRNAs, and piRNAs were shown to mainly act as negative regulators of gene expression, whereas snoRNA serves as a guide to induce chemical modification of other RNAs [ 7 ]. Recently, Hon et al. identified 19,175 potentially functional lncRNAs in the human genome [ 8 ]. The majority of lncRNAs shared similarities with mRNA: they are transcribed by RNA polymerase II; 5′ capped; 3′ polyadenylated; and could be subjected to splicing [ 9 , 10 ]. The lncRNAs are also transcriptionally regulated by transcription factor and epigenetic modifications and their expression is cell-type/tissue specific [ 8 ].\nImplication of lncRNA is well documented in different pathologies, including neurological diseases [ 11 , 12 ], diabetes [ 13 ], and cancers [ 14 ]. lncRNAs exert their functions through diverse molecular mechanisms such as acting as scaffolds for RNP complex, decoys for transcriptional factors or microRNAs, RNA interference, targeting of transcriptional factor or chromatin modifier protein to specific genomic loci, transcriptional regulation in  cis  or  trans  [ 15 ]. In this review, we will focus on the implication of  H19 , the first identified lncRNA, in human breast cancer.\n\nThe  H19 / IGF2  locus located at position 11p15.5 is subject to genomic imprinting and is encoded for several transcripts. One of these transcripts,  H19 , was proposed to act as a riboregulator by Brannan et al. in 1990 and was the first identified lncRNA [ 16 ]. Major findings about  H19  and its implication in breast cancer are summarized below in a timeline manner ( Figure 1 ).\nThe  H19  gene is transcribed by the RNA polymerase II to give raise a polyadenylated, capped and spliced 2.3 kb RNA.  H19  is paternally imprinted and maternally expressed [ 17 ]. It is expressed during embryonic development and repressed after birth expect in a few tissues like mammary gland and uterus [ 18 ]. Aberrant expression of  H19  due to imprinting modification is responsible for developmental diseases. The loss of  H19  expression and a biallelic expression of IGF2 are responsible for the Beckwith–Wiedmann syndrome characterized by fetal and postnatal overgrowth and predisposition to pediatric cancers such as Wilm’s tumors [ 19 ]. Biallelic  H19  expression and loss of IGF2 expression can lead to Silver–Russel syndrome characterized by intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation combined with others symptoms [ 19 ]. In cancer,  H19  is frequently overexpressed and it is associated to many aspect of cancer development [ 20 , 21 ].\nIn 2007, Cai & Kullen demonstrated that  H19  is a precursor of miR-675 [ 22 ]. The two strands of miR-675, miR-675-5p, and miR-675-3p, have been involved in disease development and notably in cancer development ( Section 3.1 ). In the locus  H19 / IGF2 , we have identified the presence of a new lncRNA antisense to  H19  gene, named  91H  [ 23 ]. This lncRNA is also associated with cancer development in solid-tumors such as breast cancer or osteosarcoma [ 23 , 24 ]. The implication of  H19  and  91H  in cancer is well described and is mediated by different mechanisms characteristics of that observed for other non-coding RNAs. In this review, we will focus on the role of  H19  in human breast cancer.\n\nThe implication of  H19  in tumorigenesis has been reported and  H19  is overexpressed in many solid tumors such as prostate, bladder or breast cancers [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]. We showed that  H19  is overexpressed in 73% of breast cancer tissues when compared to healthy tissues [ 28 ]. Several studies showed that  H19  is controlled by steroid hormones in normal and cancerous mammary gland, uterus and prostate [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. In breast cancer, the expression of  H19  is higher in Estrogen receptor (ERα) positive cells, but in the ERα negative MDA-MB-231 cell line, ectopic overexpression of  H19  is associated with increased proliferation [ 27 , 30 ]. Collectively, these data indicate that  H19  favor breast cancer development probably thought different mechanisms discussed below.\nThe  H19 -derived miR-675 gives rise to two functional microRNA, miR-675-5p, and miR-675-3p with different validated targets. The implication of miR-675 in cancer was firstly shown by Tsang WP et al. in colorectal cancer (CRC). By targeting the tumor suppressor retinoblastoma (RB) protein, miR-675-5p regulates the CRC development [ 32 ]. In human breast cancer, we have identified two ubiquitin ligase E3, c-Cbl, and Cbl-b, as direct targets of miR-675-5p [ 33 ]. The overexpression of miR-675-5p in breast cancer cells lines induced the downregulation of c-Cbl and Cbl-b proteins and increased the stability and the activation of Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and c-Met. Steady activation of Akt and Erk pathway enhanced the proliferation of human breast cancer and their metastasis abilities in xenograft experiments.\nZhai et al. investigated the expression of miR-675-5p in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues of 100 breast cancer patients [ 34 ]. The authors showed that miR-675 is significantly up-regulated in breast cancer patients compared with controls, but this up-regulation is not correlated with clinical and pathological status including ER and PR expression, age, and lymph node stage. The frequency of miR-675 overexpression was higher in the patients with low histological grade (I and II). Cordero et al. analyzed DNA methylation levels of 517 microRNA encoding genes in prediagnostic peripheral white blood cells of subjects who have developed colorectal cancer or breast cancer (BC) and subjects who remained clinically healthy [ 35 ]. They found that eight microRNAs, including miR-675-5p, were differentially methylated in subjects who went on to develop breast cancer. In those subjects, miR-675-5p was significantly hypomethylated suggesting that miR-675-5p could be used as biomarker for breast cancer.\nAll the known targets of miR-675-5p and miR-675-3p implicated or not in neoplasia are resumed in  Table 1 .\nSome of these targets could explain the oncogenic role of  H19  in breast cancer. For example, miR-675 stimulates migration and invasion by targeting TGF-β1 in prostate cancer cells, Cadherin13 in glioma cells, or RUNX1 in gastric cancer cells [ 42 , 44 , 47 ]. We found that  H19  and miR-675 expression enhances breast cancer cell migration [ 33 , 58 ]. This could be mediated by targeting the above cited molecules, even if miRNAs targets remain tissue specific. By example, miR-675 was shown to downregulate the expression of RB in human colorectal cancer to promote tumor development [ 32 ]. RB was also demonstrated as a target of miR-675-5p in hepatocellular carcinomas [ 48 ]. However, we showed that miR-675-5p doesn’t interact with RB mRNA in human breast cancer cell lines [ 33 ].\nTay et al. reported that lncRNA can be in competition with mRNA for common microRNAs and termed such lncRNA transcript as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) [ 59 ].  H19 , as numerous lncRNAs, could act by this mechanism. Recently, Peng et al. demonstrated the implication of  H19  in maintenance of breast cancer stem cells through the sequestration of let-7 [ 60 ]. The lower availability of let-7 increases the expression of its target, the core pluripotency factor LIN28; LIN28 in turn blocks mature let-7 production and enhances the expression of  H19  in breast cancer stem cells. In human breast cancer cells lines,  H19  upregulates the DNA methyltransferase DNMT1 by sponging miR-152, leading to enhancement of cell proliferation and invasion of the cells [ 61 ]. The authors also revealed a correlation between the overexpression of  H19  and DNMT1 and the downregulation of miR-152 in human breast tumor tissues. In 2017, Zhou et al. demonstrated that  H19  regulates Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) by differentially acting as a sponge for the microRNA miR-200b/b and let-7b using a mouse model of spontaneous metastatic breast cancer [ 62 ]. Other microRNAs sequestrated by  H19  are indicated in  Table 2 .\nThe impact of  H19  on metastasis abilities of the human breast cancer cell could be due to the sponging of these microRNAs. By example,  H19  regulates EMT in bladder cancer by sponging miR-29b-3p [ 64 ]. In thyroid cancer,  H19  promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells through the sponging of miR-17-5p [ 73 ].  H19  also regulates tumorigenic abilities of glioblastoma cells by sponging miR-181-d, in acute myleocytic leukemia by sponging has-miR-19a/b and in osteosarcoma by serving as competing endogenous RNA for the miR-200s family [ 63 , 67 , 72 ].\nIn conclusion, the lncRNA  H19  interacts with miRs pathways not only by being the precursor of miR-675, but also by physically interacting with other miRs to regulate the expression of their targets ( Figure 2 ).\nLong non-coding RNA could interact with chromatin modifier protein and contribute to epigenetic regulation of gene expression.  H19  was shown to interact with the histone methyl transferase Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and epigenetically silenced  E -cadherin in bladder cancer and DIRAS3 in diabetic cardiomyopathy [ 74 , 75 ]. Si et al. identified  H19  as a factor associated with paclitaxel resistance in ERα-positive breast cancer cells.  H19  decreases cell apoptosis induced by paclitaxel treatment by inhibiting the transcription of pro-apoptotic genes  BIK  and  NOXA . The recruitment of EZH2 by  H19  and its targeting onto the promoter of BIK induce its downregulation. As described in  Section 3.2 ,  H19  impairs availability of miR-152 and increases the expression of the epigenetic regulator DNMT1 and so increases proliferation of breast cancer cells lines [ 61 ]. However, the epigenetic modification induced by DNMT1 remains unknown. In the embryo,  H19  has been shown to physically interact with MBD1 and induce its recruitment at several imprinted genes including I GF2 ,  PEG1 , and  SLC38A4  [ 76 ]. In 2015, Zhou et al. demonstrated that  H19  binds to and inhibits  S -adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH) which carries the synthesis of  S -adenosylmethionine (SAM), the only source of methyl for methyltransferases and other processes that are methyl-dependent [ 77 ]. Modulation of  H19  can modify genome wide DNA methylation and knockdown of  H19  increased DNMT3B-mediated methylation of the lncRNA-encoding gene  Nctc1  within the  Igf2-H19-Nctc1  locus.\nTaken together, these data revealed that  H19  is an important regulator of epigenetic status of target genes. The epigenetic regulation driven by  H19  could be done by physical interaction with chromatin modifier protein or indirectly by regulating their expression.\nIn 2008, we identified a new non-coding transcript within the  IGF2 / H19  locus which is an antisense gene to  H19  named  91H  [ 23 ]. This transcript of 120 kb in humans is an lncRNA expressed in human and mice from the maternal allele. We also showed that  91H  is overexpressed in breast tumors. Further studies demonstrate the implication of  91H  in osteosarcoma [ 24 ] and colorectal cancer [ 78 ]. Recently, we showed that in breast cancer cells that  91H  exerts oncogenic properties by promoting cell growth, migration, and invasion [ 79 ]. In  91H -knockdown cell lines the expression of  H19  and IGF2 is reduced through epigenetic modifications on  H19 / IGF2  locus. These data suggest that  91H  plays an essential role in breast cancer development, but it is possible that  91H  regulation of tumorigenicity requires other factors than  H19  or IGF2. Differentiate the implication of  91H  in biological process independently of  H19  is not an easy task, but well thought experiments are needed to address the issue.\nBesides the involvement of  H19  in EMT, migration, metastasis, and carcinogenesis through the mechanisms described above,  H19  plays a key role in the regulation of the cell cycle. The overexpression of  H19  in breast cancer cells lines facilitates cell cycle transition G1/S while downregulation of  H19  by RNA interference impedes S-phase entry and proliferation [ 80 ].  H19  is activated by E2F1 binding (a key factor in the G1/S transition) to two consensus sites on  H19  promoter and negatively regulated by E2F6 and RB protein. Interestingly, in human colorectal cancer cell lines,  H19  through microRNA downregulates RB protein and increases cell growth [ 32 ]. Barsyte-Lovejoy et al. demonstrated that the oncogene c-Myc binds specifically to  H19  maternal allele to promote its transcription, leading to proliferation of breast and lung cancerous cells [ 81 ]. We have also shown that the tumor suppressor protein and cell cycle regulator p53 negatively regulates  H19  in tumor cells [ 82 ]. The interaction between  H19  and p53 was also described in other cancers. In gastric cancer cells  H19  physically interacts with p53 to induce p53 inactivation [ 83 ]. The  H19 -derived miR-675 negatively regulates p53 through an unknown target in bladder cancer cell [ 26 ]. In C-kit +  cardiac progenitor cells, Cai et al. showed that miR-675 negatively regulates p53 through the targeting of USP10 [ 38 ]. Even if the regulation of p53 by  H19  in human breast cancer is not yet described, these data, collectively, demonstrate that  H19  and miR-675 play a pivotal role in the regulation of cell cycle in cancer as illustrated in  Figure 3 .\n\nH19  is involved in human breast cancer through interaction with protein, microRNAs,  H19 -derived miR-675-5p, and  H19  antisense lncRNA ( 91H ) but the study of these ncRNAs is not only restrained in cancer cell behavior. Increasing studies have reported their interests as cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets. In breast cancer, Zhang et al. demonstrated that the expression of  H19  is significantly increased in cancer biopsies and plasma compared with healthy controls, plasma  H19  levels were significantly correlated with progesterone and estrogen receptors and lymph node metastasis [ 84 ]. The plasma level of  H19  is higher in patients with gastric cancer compared to normal controls. Lower  H19  expression is found in postoperative samples compared to preoperative ones [ 85 ]. Higher levels of miR-675 are also found in both tumor samples and gastric juice of patients suffering from gastric cancer [ 86 ]. The different implication of  H19  in human breast cancer is illustrated in  Figure 4 .\nFrom a therapeutic perspective, a plasmid-based strategy (DTA-H19/BC-819) to target  H19  is presently in a phase 2b clinical trial for bladder cancer and in phase 1/2a for ovarian and peritoneal cancer [ 87 , 88 ]. Although further studies are needed, the targeting of  H19  and miR-675 could provide novel opportunities in the treatment of cancer patients.","source_license":"CC-BY-4.0","license_restricted":false}