1. Introduction
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most prevalent histological subtype of lung cancer, accounting for approximately 85% of all cases and representing a leading cause of global cancer-related mortality [
1]. For patients with advanced or post-operative disease, platinum-based chemotherapy, predominantly with cisplatin, remains a cornerstone of first-line treatment [
2,
3]. However, the clinical efficacy of cisplatin is severely limited by the frequent development of intrinsic or acquired drug resistance, which constitutes a major obstacle to achieving durable therapeutic responses and improving long-term survival [
4,
5]. Consequently, elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms of cisplatin resistance is imperative for developing novel strategies to overcome this barrier and improve outcomes for NSCLC patients.
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides that lack protein-coding capacity. Accumulating evidence indicates their pivotal involvement in tumor biology, where they can act as drivers or suppressors of cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis [
6]. Notably, their dysregulation is also increasingly linked to the development of chemotherapy resistance [
7].
NR2F1-AS1 (nuclear receptor subfamily 2 group F member 1 antisense RNA 1, hereafter referred to as
NAS1), a recently identified lncRNA located on chromosome 5q15, has been documented in a wide array of malignancies with context-dependent regulatory functions [
8]. Intriguingly, the adjacent gene
NR2F1 encodes a transcription factor reported to be translationally regulated by
NAS1 and implicated in processes such as tumor dormancy and drug resistance [
9,
10]. However, the precise mechanism through which
NAS1 modulates cisplatin resistance via
NR2F1 in NSCLC has not yet been fully characterized. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether the
NAS1-NR2F1 axis is involved in cisplatin resistance in NSCLC and to explore the molecular mechanisms by which its downstream factors exert their effects.
In this study, we identify that both NAS1 and NR2F1 are significantly downregulated in cisplatin-resistant NSCLC cell lines. Functional experiments confirm that knockdown of either gene increases cisplatin resistance, establishing their negative correlation with the cisplatin-resistant phenotype. Through rescue investigations, we demonstrate that NR2F1 is a necessary downstream target through which NAS1 exerts its effect. Furthermore, by integrating transcriptomic analysis and experimental validation, we reveal that downregulation of the NAS1-NR2F1 axis converges on the transcriptional derepression of TGFB1, leading to subsequent activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway to drive cisplatin resistance. Collectively, our findings delineate a NAS1/NR2F1/TGFB1/NF-κB regulatory axis and suggest that targeting this pathway could represent a promising therapeutic strategy for overcoming cisplatin resistance in NSCLC.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Cell Culture
The human lung adenocarcinoma cell line PC9 (CellCook, CC0204, Guangzhou, China) and its cisplatin-resistant derivative PC9/CDDPr (CellCook, DR0204-DDP); the large cell lung cancer cell line H460 and its cisplatin-resistant derivative H460/CDDPr (MingJing Biology, M-C7062, Shanghai, China); as well as the lung squamous carcinoma cell line H226 (Cell Bank of Chinese Academy of Sciences, SCSP-5073, Shanghai, China) and its cisplatin-resistant counterpart H226/CDDPr were used in this study. Generated in-house by concentration-gradient intermittent induction: H226 cells were obtained from the Cell Bank of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. H226 cisplatin-resistant cells were established in-house by stepwise intermittent exposure to increasing concentrations of cisplatin over 6 months until a stable resistant phenotype was achieved. Resistant cells were maintained in medium containing 1 μM cisplatin and cultured in drug-free medium for 1 week before experiments. All cell lines were authenticated by short tandem repeat profiling within the past 3 years and routinely confirmed to be free of mycoplasma contamination. Cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin/streptomycin at 37 °C in a humidified incubator with 5% CO2. All cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium (BI, 01-100-1ACS, Kibbutz Beit Haemek, Israel) supplemented with 10% FBS (VivaCell, C04001-500, Shanghai, China) and 1% penicillin/streptomycin (Life Technologies, 15140163, Shanghai, China). To maintain the resistant phenotype, H226/CDDPr, H460/CDDPr and PC9/CDDPr cells were routinely cultured with 1 µM, 0.83 µM and 6.6 µM cisplatin, respectively. Cells were switched to drug-free medium for one week prior to experiments. All cultures were maintained at 37 °C in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2.
2.2. RNA-Seq Data Analysis
For transcriptomic profiling of cisplatin-resistant cell lines, total RNA was extracted from cells at 70–80% confluence using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Libraries were prepared and sequenced on an Illumina NovaSeq platform (Novogene, Beijing, China). Raw transcriptome sequencing data were first subjected to quality control using FastQC (version 0.12.1) and summarized with MultiQC [
11] (version 1.33). Low-quality bases and residual adapter sequences were then removed using TrimGalore (
https://github.com/FelixKrueger/TrimGalore, accessed on 7 September 2016). The cleaned reads were aligned to the human reference genome (GRCh38, Ensembl release) using Hisat2 (version 2.2.1) [
12]. Gene-level read counts were quantified with FeatureCounts [
13]. Differential expression analysis was performed using DESeq2 (version 1.42.1) [
14]. Genes with an absolute log
2 fold change (|log
2FC|) > 1 and a
p-value < 0.05 were considered significantly differentially expressed.
For the external dataset GSE233167 (gastric cancer cells with NR2F1 knockdown or overexpression), FPKM values were downloaded from the GEO database. Genes with FPKM fold-change > 1.3 or <1/1.3 were defined as upregulated or downregulated, respectively. Heatmaps were generated for genes with |Z-score (OE_NC − KD_NC)| < 1.
2.3. TCGA Data Analysis
The RNA expression profiles of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) cohorts were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor tissues and corresponding normal lung tissues were included in the analysis. The RNA expression level of NR2F1-AS1 was extracted from the TCGA expression datasets. Differences in NR2F1-AS1 expression between NSCLC and normal tissues were visualized using the ggplot2 package in R (version 4.0.1). The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was applied to evaluate the statistical significance of differences in NR2F1-AS1 RNA expression between the two groups.
2.4. Plasmid Construction and Transfection
To construct the shNR2F1 plasmid, a double-stranded oligonucleotide encoding the NR2F1-targeting shRNA (5′-CTCTTCTTCGTCCGTTTGGTA-3′) or a control shRNA (shScramble: 5′-AACAGTCGCGTTTGCGACTGG-3′) was cloned into the pRSI9-U6-(sh)-UbiC-TagRFP-2A-Puro vector. Correct insertion was verified by Sanger sequencing.
For
NR2F1 overexpression, the full-length human
NR2F1 coding sequence (NM_005654.6) was amplified by PCR with flanking HindIII and BamHI sites and inserted into the pcDNA3.1 vector to generate pcDNA3.1-Myc-NR2F1. Empty pcDNA3.1 was used as a negative control. Primer sequences are listed in
Supplementary Table S1.
Cells were seeded in 3.5 cm dishes 24 h before transfection to reach 50–70% confluence. the pcDNA3.1 empty vector (negative control) or the pcDNA3.1-Myc-NR2F1 expression plasmid was delivered using Lipofectamine™ 3000 (Invitrogen, L3000015). Medium was replaced 4–6 h post-transfection, and subsequent experiments were conducted 24 h after transfection. Transfection efficiency was assessed 48 h after the transfection.
2.5. Construction of Knockdown Cell Lines
For stable NAS1 knockdown, lentiviral particles carrying two independent shRNAs (shNAS1-1: 5′-GACACTGATATAACTGTAGAT-3′; shNAS1-2: 5′-GCTGCATCCTTATGGTAGCTA-3′) or a control shRNA (shNC: 5′-TTCTCCGAACGTGTCACGT-3′) were obtained from GenePharma (Shanghai, China). Cells were co-infected with both shNAS1 lentiviruses or infected with shNC lentiviruses at 40–50% confluence. After 24 h, the viral supernatant was removed. The cells were then cultured in complete culture medium without antibiotics for an additional 24 h. Subsequently, the cells were maintained in complete culture medium for 2 days, followed by puromycin selection (PC9: 1 µg/mL, H226: 0.5 µg/mL) was applied for 7 days to establish stable pools.
For NR2F1 knockdown, lentivirus was produced by transfecting HEK-293T cells with packaging and shNR2F1 plasmids using Exfect Transfection Reagent (Vazyme, T101-02, Nanjing, China). Supernatants were collected at 24 h and 48 h, filtered (0.45 µm), and used to infect target cells at 40–50% confluence. After 24 h, complete medium was applied, and stable populations were selected with puromycin for 7 days. Knockdown efficiency was confirmed by qRT-PCR and Western blot.
2.6. RNA Isolation and Quantitative Real-Time PCR
Total RNA was extracted with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, 15596018). Reverse transcription was performed using 1 µg RNA with HiScript III RT SuperMix (Vazyme, R323-01). qPCR was carried out with ChamQ SYBR Master Mix (Vazyme, Q331-02) on a QuantStudio 3 system (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). Relative expression was calculated by the 2
−ΔΔCT method using β-actin as the internal control. All primers were synthesized by Tsingke and are listed in
Supplementary Table S1.
2.7. Western Blot (WB)
Cells were lysed in SDS-PAGE sample buffer and heated at 100 °C for 10 min. Proteins were separated on 10% SDS-PAGE gels and transferred onto NC membranes (Sangon Biotech, F619512, Shanghai, China). Membranes were blocked with 5% non-fat milk in TBST, then incubated overnight at 4 °C with the following primary antibodies: COUP-TF1 (ab181137, Abcam, 1:1000, Cambridge, MA, USA), GAPDH (sc-365062, Santa Cruz, 1:5000, Santa Cruz, CA, USA), p-P65 (3033, CST, 1:1000, Danvers, MA, USA), P65 (8242, CST, 1:1000). After washing, membranes were incubated with HRP-conjugated anti-rabbit (SA00001-2, Proteintech, 1:5000, Wuhan, China) or anti-mouse (SA00001-1, Proteintech, 1:5000) secondary antibodies for 1 h at room temperature. Signals were detected with a ChemiDoc system (Tanon, Shanghai, China) and quantified using ImageJ (version 1.54g). All experiments were performed in triplicate.
2.8. Chemosensitivity Assay
Cell viability was assessed using the CCK-8 kit (Vazyme, A311-02). Cells were seeded in 96-well plates (3000 cells/well) and treated with a series of cisplatin concentrations (two-fold dilutions from 0 to 256 µM) for 48 h. Then, 10 µL of CCK-8 reagent was added per well, incubated for 1 h, and absorbance was measured at 450 nm. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated by fitting a dose–response curve in GraphPad Prism 10 using the equation inhibitor vs. normalized response-variable slope.
2.9. Cell Migration Assay
Migration was evaluated using Transwell chambers (8 µm pore, LabSelect, 14341, Beijing, China). Cells were resuspended in medium with 1% FBS and seeded into the upper chamber (6 × 105 cells/mL, 100 µL/well). The lower chamber contained medium with 10% FBS. Cisplatin (0, 4, or 8 µM) was added to both chambers. After 24 h, cells on the upper surface were removed, and migrated cells on the lower surface were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde (Biosharp, 23355142, Beijing, China), stained with 0.1% crystal violet (Beyotime Biotechnology, C0121, Shanghai, China), imaged, and counted.
2.10. Colony Formation Assay
Cells were plated in 6-well plates at 700 cells/well. After adhesion, cisplatin (0, 0.5, or 1 µM) was added. Cells were cultured for 7–10 days, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde (Biosharp, 23355142), stained with 0.1% crystal violet (Beyotime Biotechnology, C0121), and colony areas were quantified.
2.11. Enrichment Analysis
Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analysis was performed using the clusterProfiler (v4.12.6) R package.
2.12. Statistical Analysis
All data are derived from at least three independent biological replicates. Unless otherwise specified, differences between two groups were assessed using unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Significance levels are denoted as * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001. Analyses were performed in GraphPad Prism 10.
4. Discussion
The development of cisplatin resistance remains a major obstacle in the treatment of NSCLC. It is crucial to improve chemosensitivity and prevent or bypass chemoresistance to enhance the prognosis of NSCLC patients [
21]. Therefore, developing novel potential targets related to chemotherapeutic treatment response rates, as well as revealing the underlying mechanisms, is essential for optimizing clinical chemotherapeutical schemes and the treatment of NSCLC. Emerging evidence has highlighted the involvement of
NAS1, including NSCLC, in tumor development [
8], but the specific roles and mechanisms of
NAS1 in cisplatin resistance are poorly understood. By analyzing our RNA sequencing data, we identified lncRNA
NAS1 as the most considerably down-regulated lncRNA in three cisplatin-resistant NSCLC cell lines compared to their corresponding parental cells (
Figure 1). Knockdown of
NAS1 further confirmed the negative relationship of
NAS1 and cisplatin resistance of NSCLC (
Figure 2). While numerous studies have established that
NAS1 mainly acts as an oncogene across multiple cancer types, tumor-suppressive properties have been documented in specific malignancies, indicating context-dependent regulatory functions that differ among cancer types [
8]. In the present study, TCGA database analysis demonstrated significant downregulation of
NAS1 in NSCLC tumors (
Figure 1F). However, phenotypic assays following
NAS1 knockdown revealed that although
NAS1 depletion significantly increased cellular chemoresistance, it concomitantly impaired cell migratory capacity (
Figure 2I,J). Comparable observations were made in
NR2F1 knockdown experiments (
Figure 3K,L), underscoring the multifaceted role of the
NAS1-
NR2F1 axis in NSCLC. This functional complexity may be attributed to the regulatory effects of the
NAS1-
NR2F1 axis on cellular dormancy. It has been previously reported that
NAS1 is upregulated in dormant mesenchymal-like breast cancer cells, where it promotes tumor dissemination through translational regulation of
NR2F1, albeit at the expense of proliferative capacity [
9]. Nevertheless, the specific role of the
NAS1-
NR2F1 axis in modulating cancer phenotypes in NSCLC warrants further investigation.
LncRNAs can modulate gene expression through diverse mechanisms, including functioning as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) or miRNA sponges, regulating RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), and transcription-dependent activation or repression of neighboring genes [
22].
NR2F1, located adjacent to
NAS1, has been previously reported to undergo translational regulation by
NAS1, which binds
NR2F1 mRNA and recruits the RBP PTBP1 to facilitate internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-mediated translation [
9]. Our study confirmed this translational regulatory relationship between
NAS1 and
NR2F1 (
Figure 3A). Whether post-translational regulation or altered protein stability contributes to NR2F1 downregulation remains an open question that will be important to address in future studies. The
NAS1-
NR2F1 axis has been implicated in cellular dormancy regulation, though the underlying mechanisms vary across different cellular contexts: it promotes dormancy in breast cancer cells but drives the transition from dormancy to proliferation in prostate cancer [
9,
23]. In contrast, we demonstrated that diminished expression of the
NAS1-
NR2F1 axis enhances cisplatin resistance in NSCLC, with
NR2F1 identified as a crucial downstream mediator of
NAS1 in this process (
Figure 4). However, whether dormancy plays a role in cisplatin resistance in NSCLC through the
NAS1-NR2F1 axis requires further experimental validation. Intriguingly, while
NAS1 regulates cisplatin resistance through translational control of
NR2F1, cisplatin-resistant cell lines exhibited reductions in both NR2F1 protein and
NR2F1 mRNA levels (
Figure 3B). This observation implies that NR2F1 downregulation in resistant cells may involve supplementary upstream regulatory mechanisms independent of
NAS1, underscoring the intricate molecular circuitry underlying cisplatin resistance.
Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a pleiotropic cytokine implicated in multiple cellular processes—including cell development, proliferation, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), and immune regulation—via SMAD-dependent and non-SMAD signaling cascades (encompassing PI3K/AKT, MAPK, and NF-κB pathways) [
24]. Intriguingly, TGF-β signaling exhibits dichotomous functions in cancer: it serves as a robust tumor suppressor during early tumorigenesis by inducing apoptosis or cell cycle arrest, yet paradoxically facilitates advanced tumor transformation, progression, and metastasis through multidimensional mechanisms [
24]. Although TGFβ1 demonstrates context-dependent roles in oncogenesis, accumulating evidence indicates that elevated TGFβ1 expression fosters chemoresistance, with distinct molecular mechanisms identified across various malignancies [
16,
18,
25,
26], notably including NF-κB pathway activation-mediated drug resistance [
18]. Consistently, our findings reveal that diminished
NAS1-
NR2F1 axis derepresses
TGFB1 transcription, resulting in its upregulation and subsequent NF-κB pathway activation (evidenced by markedly increased phosphorylated p65 levels) (
Figure 5 and
Figure 6). These observations were corroborated in cisplatin-resistant cell lines as well as in
NAS1- or
NR2F1-deficient cellular models, substantiating the relationship between TGFβ1 overexpression and enhanced chemotherapeutic resistance.
In summary, our findings underscore the pivotal role of the NAS1-NR2F1 axis in modulating cisplatin resistance in NSCLC. Downregulation of this axis derepresses TGFB1 transcription, leading to NF-κB pathway activation and consequent promotion of cisplatin resistance. NF-κB activation has been widely implicated in cisplatin resistance, in part through promoting pro-survival and anti-apoptotic signaling. While the precise transcriptional regulatory mechanisms through which NR2F1 governs TGFB1 expression warrant further elucidation, therapeutic interventions aimed at restoring NAS1 expression (such as nucleotide analog administration), suppressing TGFB1 activity, or antagonizing downstream NF-κB signaling—particularly in combination with cisplatin—may offer a promising strategy for overcoming drug resistance in this malignancy. Although this study has validated the proposed mechanism in cell-based assays, the key findings have not yet been confirmed in animal models. Further in vivo and clinical investigations will be necessary to substantiate the translational relevance of this regulatory axis.