Background: It has been reported that long intergenic non-protein-coding RNA 324 (LINC00324) promotes liver cancer by upregulating Fas ligand (FasL), which is a major player in intervertebral disk degeneration (IDD), indicating the involvement of LINC00324 in IDD. This study was carried out to investigate the interaction between LINC00324 and FasL in IDD.
Methods: Plasma samples were collected from both IDD (n = 60) and healthy controls (n = 60). The expression of LINC00324 and FasL in plasma was determined by RT-qPCR. The interactions between LINC00324 and FasL in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells were analyzed by overexpression experiments.
Results: LINC00324 and FasL were upregulated in IDD patients, and they were positively correlated. After treatment, the expression levels of FasL and LINC00324 were significantly decreased. In NP cells, overexpression of LINC00324 increased the expression of FasL at both mRNA and protein levels, while overexpression of FasL did not affect the expression of LINC00324.
Conclusion: LINC00324 may upregulate FasL in IDD to promote disease progression.
Keywords: FasL; Intervertebral disk degeneration; LINC00324.