H19 potentiates let-7 family expression through reducing PTBP1 binding to their precursors in cholestasis

Cholestasis induces the hepatic long non-coding RNA H19, which promotes the progression of cholestatic liver fibrosis. However, microRNAs that are dysregulated by H19 during cholestasis remain elusive. Using miRNA-sequencing analysis followed by qPCR validation, we identified marked upregulation of eight members of the let-7 family in cholestatic livers by bile duct ligation (BDL) and H19 overexpression. In particular, the expression of let-7a-1/7d/7f-1 was highly induced in H19-BDL livers but decreased in H19KO-BDL livers. Interestingly, H19 decreased the nuclear let-7 precursors as well as the primary transcripts of let-7a-1/7d/7f-1 levels in BDL mouse livers. Bioinformatics, RNA pull-down, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays revealed that the crucial RNA-binding protein polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 1 (PTBP1), an H19 interaction partner, interacted with the precursors of let-7a-1 and let-7d and suppressed their maturation. Both PTBP1 and let-7 expression was differentially regulated by different bile acid species in hepatocyte and cholangiocyte cells. Further, H19 negatively regulated PTBP1’s mRNA and protein levels but did not affect its subcellular distribution in BDL mouse livers. Moreover, we found that H19 restrained but PTBP1 facilitated the bioavailability of let-7 miRNAs to their targets. Taken together, this study revealed for the first time that H19 promoted let-7 expression by decreasing PTBP1’s expression level and its binding to the let-7 precursors in cholestasis.