Long Non-Coding RNAs Associated with Breast Cancer Cell Apoptosis Following Resveratrol Treatment: An In Silico Analysis

Phytochemicals such as resveratrol accomplish their pleiotropic anti-tumor activities by modulating the expression of non-coding RNAs. This study examined the role of resveratrol in modulating long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) for apoptosis of breast cancer cells. An RNA-Seq dataset available in the NCBI, in which resveratrol-induced apoptosis in a breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231), was analyzed to explore the differential expression of lncRNAs. In the resveratrol-treated group, 335 lncRNAs with differential expression were identified between the control and treatment groups, of which 167 and 168 lncRNAs were upregulated and downregulated, respectively. Among the upregulated putative lncRNAs, the maximum fold change was ~34, belonging to LINC00261. Among the downregulated putative lncRNAs, the maximum fold change was -191.3, which belongs to DLEU2L. The main upregulated novel lncRNAs, with a ~50-fold increase in the content, belonged to lnc-KLF-1. Our study predicted overexpression of novel lnc-KLF-1 and LINC00261 as a signature of the response of breast cancer cells to resveratrol treatment. Furthermore, a network of interactions between the lncRNAs and miRNAs was constructed, and key-lncRNA in this network was highlighted. Our study's comparative analysis of the lncRNA transcriptional landscape discovered several novel lncRNA candidates that may regulate the response of breast cancer cells to resveratrol treatment. This may pave the way for developing new molecular biomarkers with diagnostic, prognostic, and potential therapeutic values.