The novel long noncoding RNA lncRNA-Adi regulates adipogenesis.

Adipogenesis participates in many physiological and pathological processes, such as obesity and diabetes, and is regulated by a series of precise molecular events. However, the molecules involved in this regulation have not been fully characterized. In this study, we identified a long noncoding (lnc)RNA, lncRNA-Adi, which is highly expressed in adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) that are differentiating into adipocytes. Knockdown of lncRNA-Adi impaired the adipogenic differentiation ability of ADSCs. Moreover, lncRNA-Adi was found to interact with microRNA (miR)-449a to enhance the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)6 during adipogenesis. The mechanism by which lncRNA-Adi regulates adipogenesis was determined to involve an lncRNA-Adi-miR-449a interaction that competes with the CDK6 3' untranslated region to increase CDK6 translation and activate the pRb-E2F1 pathway to promote adipogenesis. These findings provide valuable information and a new study angle to search for therapeutic targets against metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes.