LncRNA LOXL1-AS is up-regulated in thoracic aortic aneurysm and regulated proliferation and apoptosis of aortic smooth muscle cells

Long non-coding RNA LOXL1-AS is up-regulated in several types of cancers. The present study was carried out to explore the potential interactions between LOXL1-AS and lncRNA Giver in thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA). We found that LOXL1-AS was up-regulated in TAA patients than in healthy controls in aortic media specimens. Altered expression levels of LOXL1-AS distinguished TAA patients from healthy controls. LncRNA Giver was also up-regulated in TAA patients than in healthy controls in aortic media specimens, and was positively correlated with LOXL1-AS. LOXL1-AS overexpression mediated the up-regulation of Giver in human aortic smooth muscle cells, while Giver overexpression failed to significantly affect LOXL1-AS. LOXL1-AS and Giver overexpression resulted in promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis of HAOSMC. Giver silencing played an opposite role and attenuated the effect of LOXL1-AS overexpression. Therefore, LOXL1-AS was up-regulated in TAA and regulated proliferation and apoptosis of LOXL1-AS by up-regulating Giver.