Abstract
Circular RNAs (ciRNAs) are emerging as new players in the regulation of gene expression. However, how ciRNAs are involved in neuropathic pain is poorly understood. Here, we identify the nervous-tissue-specific ciRNA-Fmn1 and report that changes in ciRNA-Fmn1 expression in spinal cord dorsal horn neurons play a key role in neuropathic pain after nerve injury. ciRNA-Fmn1 was significantly downregulated in ipsilateral dorsal horn neurons after peripheral nerve injury, at least in part because of a decrease in DNA helicase 9 (DHX9), which regulates production of ciRNA-Fmn1 by binding to DNA-tandem repeats. Blocking ciRNA-Fmn1 downregulation reversed nerve-injury-induced reductions in both the binding of ciRNA-Fmn1 to the ubiquitin ligase UBR5 and the level of ubiquitination of albumin (ALB), thereby abrogating the nerve-injury-induced increase of ALB expression in the dorsal horn and attenuating the associated pain hypersensitivities. Conversely, mimicking downregulation of ciRNA-Fmn1 in naïve mice reduced the UBR5-controlled ubiquitination of ALB, leading to increased expression of ALB in the dorsal horn and induction of neuropathic-pain-like behaviors in naïve mice. Thus, ciRNA-Fmn1 downregulation caused by changes in binding of DHX9 to DNA-tandem repeats contributes to the genesis of neuropathic pain by negatively modulating UBR5-controlled ALB expression in the dorsal horn.
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Acknowledgements
The work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82171234, 81971041, 81671096 to ZQP; 82171233 to HJW; 82201391 to QHW; 32200818 to LY; 81901132 to ZYX); Jiang Su-Specially Appointed Professor Project, Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20201460), and Key project of the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Education Department (22KJA320008), and Key Project of Shanghai Chongming District (CKY2019-1).
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ZQP, conceived the project. ZQP and JLC supervised all experiments. XDL, YT, TJ, HLZ, MZ, and LYH performed the experiments; XDL, YT, SYL, YH, QQL, KHY, RNW, HLZ, MZ, QHW, LY, HJW, FQL, WS and ZQP analyzed data; XDL, HJW, and ZQP wrote the draft of paper. YXT discussed the results and edited the paper.
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Liu, Xd., Jin, T., Tao, Y. et al. DHX9/DNA-tandem repeat-dependent downregulation of ciRNA-Fmn1 in the dorsal horn is required for neuropathic pain. Acta Pharmacol Sin 44, 1748–1767 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-023-01082-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-023-01082-x