LncRNA MIR181A2HG Negatively Regulates Human Keratinocytes Proliferation by Binding SRSF1

Abstract Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease. Abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes plays an important role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the regulation of a variety of cell biological processes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential role of lncRNA MIR181A2HG in the proliferation of human keratinocytes. qRT-PCR was performed to measure the expression levels of MIR181A2HG, SRSF1, miR-181a, miR-181b, KRT6 and KRT6 in tissue specimens and cells. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to measure cell viability. RNA pulldown-mass spectrometry (MS) was applied to identify the proteins interacting with MIR181A2HG. RNA pulldown-Western blotting and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP)-qRT-PCR were used to confirm the interaction between MIR181A2HG and SRSF1. In this study, we found MIR181A2HG was decreased in psoriatic lesions. Knockdown of MIR181A2HG promoted the proliferation of human keratinocytes, while overexpression of MIR181A2HG inhibited the proliferation of human keratinocytes. 356 proteins were identified to interact with MIR181A2HG potentially. SRSF1 was finally determined to interact with MIR181A2HG. In addition, silencing of SRSF1 inhibited keratinocytes proliferation, which could be reversed with knockdown of MIR181A2HG. In summary, MIR181A2HG negatively regulates keratinocytes proliferation by binding SRSF1, suggesting that MIR181A2HG and SRSF1 may serve as potential targets for the treatment of psoriasis.