LncRNA PANDAR regulates the G1/S transition of breast cancer cells by suppressing p16(INK4A) expression

It has been reported that lncRNA PANDAR (promoter of CDKN1A antisense DNA damage-activated RNA) is induced as a result of DNA damage, and it regulates the reparation of DNA damage. In this study, we investigated the role of lncRNA PANDAR in the progression of breast cancer and found that PANDAR was up-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. The knockdown of PANDAR suppresses G1/S transition of breast cancer cells. We demonstrated mechanistically that the regulation of G1/S transition by PANDAR was partly due to the transcriptional modulation of p16(INK4A). Moreover, we showed that PANDAR impacted p16(INK4A) expression by regulating the recruitment Bmi1 to p16(INK4A) promoter. To our knowledge, this is the first study which showed the functional roles and mechanisms of PANDAR in regulating the progression of breast cancer. The PANDAR/Bmi1/p16(INK4A) axis could serve as novel targets for breast cancer therapy.