Integration of scRNA-Seq and scATAC-Seq Revealed the Role of lncRNA RP11-661C8.2 by Promoting EMT in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in tumor progression. However, most of the previously discovered lncRNAs that promote or inhibit tumor progression were derived from bulk RNA-seq results. Data from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (scATAC-seq) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) were integrated to precisely identify the lncRNAs that regulate tumor progression in ccRCC. The scRNA-seq data of 23 ccRCC samples and the scATAC-seq data of 19 samples were analysed, capturing the transcriptome of 121,106 cells and the epigenetic features of 61,693 cells, respectively. Results showed that lncRNA RP11-661C8.2 was associated with significant chromatin accessibility in ccRCC tumor cells by scATAC-seq. Subsequently, integrated scRNA-seq analysis and functional experiments in vitro and in vivo confirmed the role of RP11-661C8.2 in promoting the invasion, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of ccRCC cells. In addition, RP11-661C8.2 played a role in up-regulating ITGAV and activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, which may be the potential mechanism of promoting the EMT in ccRCC cells. This study identified the role of RP11-661C8.2 in ccRCC, which provided new reference basis and potential intervention targets for ccRCC.