Long Noncoding RNA MEG3 Negatively Regulates Proliferation and Angiogenesis in Vascular Endothelial Cells.

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) MEG3 is an important tumor suppressor in several types of human cancers. However, the biological function and underlying mechanism of MEG3 in vascular endothelial cells (VECs) remain unknown. In the present study, we demonstrated the functional importance of lncRNA MEG3 in proliferation and angiogenesis of VECs. MEG3 overexpression significantly suppressed the proliferation and in vitro angiogenesis in VECs, whereas knockdown of MEG3 had the opposite effect. Furthermore, we found that MEG3 exerts its function through negatively regulating miR-9 by acting as a microRNA sponge. Taken together, MEG3-miR-9 plays an important role in proliferation and angiogenesis in VECs.