LncRNA NNT-AS1 regulates proliferation, ECM accumulation and inflammation of human mesangial cells induced by high glucose through miR-214-5p/smad4

BACKGROUND: LncRNA NNT-AS1 (NNT-AS1) has been extensively studied as the causative agent in propagation and progression of lung and bladder cancers, and cholangiocarcinoma. However, its significance in proliferation and inflammation of diabetic nephropathy is enigmatic. This study focuses on the molecular mechanisms followed by NNT-AS1 to establish diabetic nephropathy (DN) and its potential miRNA target. METHODS: Bioinformatics analysis to identify potential miRNA target of NNT-AS1 and smad4 transcription factor was conducted using LncBase and TargetScan, and was subsequently confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. Relative quantitative expression of NNT-AS1 in human glomerular mesangial cells (HGMCs) was detected through quantitative real-time PCR and WB analysis. Cell proliferation was detected through CCK-8 assay, whereas, ELISA was conducted to evaluate the expression of inflammatory cytokines. Following this, relative expression of miR-214-5p and smad4 were confirmed through qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. RESULTS: Results from the experiments manifested up-regulated levels of NNT-AS1 and smad4 in the blood samples of DN patients as well as in HGMCs, whereas, downregulated levels of miR-214-5p were measured in the HGMCs suggesting the negative correlation between NNT-AS1 and miR-214-5p. Potential binding sites of NNT-AS1 showed miR-214-5p as its direct target and NNT-AS1 as potential absorber for this microRNA, in turn increasing the expression of transcription factor smad4. CONCLUSION: The data suggests that NNT-AS1 can be positively used as a potential biomarker and indicator of DN and causes extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation and inflammation of human mesangial cells. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-021-02580-y.