Hepatocellular carcinoma up-regulated EZH2-associated long non-coding RNA (HEIH)

Hepatocellular carcinoma up-regulated EZH2-associated long non-coding RNA (HEIH) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues. HEIH interacts with the chromatin modifier EZH2 (Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2), acting as a scaffold to recruit EZH2 to target genes, leading to histone methylation and epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes. Its up-regulation promotes cell cycle progression (especially G0/G1 arrest release), proliferation, and metastasis of HCC cells. HEIH serves as an oncogenic lncRNA and has been proposed as a biomarker for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic targeting in HCC. There are currently no approved drugs specifically targeting HEIH, but disruption of its epigenetic regulatory functions may present future therapeutic opportunities[1][3].

Other names

LINC-HEIHlncRNA-HEIHLINC00848HCCAT2long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 848highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma long non-coding RNAhepatocellular carcinoma associated transcript 2 (non-protein coding)long intergenic non-protein coding RNA, highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma

HEIH acts as a scaffold for binding to epigenetic regulators (notably EZH2). It modulates histone methylation and gene silencing via EZH2 association, and regulates cell cycle and tumor progression by epigenetic gene suppression.