Oxidative stress in neuronal-like cells leads to a global increased lncRNA expression levels

Thousands of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes are transcribed but do not produce proteins. The roles of only a handful of these lncRNAs were resolved. In recent years, it has been discovered that lncRNA may act in cell homeostasis, but its effect on the response to oxidative stress is not fully understood. We therefore tested the changes in lncRNA following oxidative stress in neuronal-like SH-SY5Y cells. We found that the expression of many lncRNAs increased, including highly ubiquitous lncRNAs. One of these is MALAT1, a known competitor for a variety of miRNAs. miRNA-MALAT1 complexes compete with miRNA binding on its targets. MALAT1 has a neuroprotective role in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (AD and PD, respectively). Importantly, under oxidative stress, the level of lncRNAs MALAT1, NETA1, MIAT, and others was increased in SH-SY5Y cells. We suggest that a global elevation in highly expressed lncRNAs could serve as molecular targets for overlooked therapeutic intervention in neurodegenerative diseases.