LncRNA H19 is involved in myocardial ischemic preconditioning via increasing the stability of nucleolin protein

Abstract Myocardial ischemic preconditioning (IP) is defined as a brief period of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) that significantly reduces injury during the subsequent exposure to long‐term I/R. However, the underlying mechanisms of myocardial IP are yet to be elucidated. This study investigated the expression and roles of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) H19 in myocardial IP in vitro and in vivo. LncRNA H19 expression levels were analyzed by quantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction, cell viability was determined by the Cell Counting Kit‐8 assay, apoptosis was evaluated based on the caspase 3 activity, and RNA immunoprecipitation was performed to examine the interaction between lncRNA H19 and nucleolin. The results of this study showed that lncRNA H19 expression was significantly upregulated in mouse hearts subjected to myocardial IP, in rat H9C2 cells exposed to H 2 O 2 preconditioning (H 2 O 2 ‐PC), and in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes subjected to hypoxia preconditioning. H19 knockdown abrogated the H 2 O 2 ‐PC‐mediated protection in cardiomyocytes evidenced by the decreased cell viability and increased caspase‐3 activity. Conversely, H19 overexpression enhanced the protective role of H 2 O 2 ‐PC in cardiomyocytes. In addition, H19 overexpression increased the expression of nucleolin, whereas H19 ablation abrogated H 2 O 2 ‐PC‐induced upregulation of nucleolin in cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, H19 overexpression increased the stabilization of nucleolin; an interaction between H19 and nucleolin was identified using the RNA–protein interaction studies. Furthermore, nucleolin small interfering RNA relieved the protective role of lncRNA H19. These findings demonstrated that the lncRNA H19 is involved in myocardial IP via increasing the stability of nucleolin protein and lncRNA H19 may represent a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of the myocardial injury.