Investigating the Effects of Thiosemicarbazone Complexes and Chemotherapy Drugs on the Expression Profiles of ANRIL, CCAT1, NEAT1, and GAS5 lncRNAs in the Jurkat E6.1 Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cell Line

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a heterogeneous disease and one of the most common malignancies in children, treated with chemotherapy drugs and thiosemicarbazone complexes. This study investigated the relationship between changes in the expression of nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1), growth arrest-specific 5 (GAS5), antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL), and colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (CCAT1) long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the Jurkat E6.1 ALL cell line treated with chemotherapy drugs and thiosemicarbazone complexes. Methods: The Jurkat E6.1 ALL cell line was treated with chemotherapy drugs and thiosemicarbazone complexes prepared in different concentrations for different periods of time (24, 48, and 72 hours). RNA extraction and complementary DNA synthesis were performed, and the expression levels of NEAT1, GAS5, ANRIL, and CCAT1 lncRNAs were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The obtained results were statistically analyzed using REST software. Results: Changes in GAS5 expression were observed at various concentrations of drugs after different time periods. The highest significant increase in expression was observed in methotrexate at a concentration of 10 μM in 24 hours. Changes in NEAT1 expression were time-dependent, and the most significant decrease was found at 72 hours with Arac at a concentration of 5 μM. Changes in CCAT1 gene expression were noticeable for all drug compounds and concentrations at different time periods. Changes in ANRIL expression were time-dependent, and the most significant decrease was observed at 72 hours with Complex 3. Conclusion: The findings revealed that changes in the expression of NEAT1, GAS5, ANRIL, and CCAT1 lncRNAs were affected by the treatment with chemotherapy drugs and thiosemicarbazone complexes in the Jurkat E6.1 ALL cell line. The results also indicated that all drug compounds and concentrations were time-dependent in terms of efficacy. These findings may contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies for ALL treatment.