Nitric Oxide Synthase 3, Antisense (NOS3AS)

Both the NOS3 and NOS3AS genes were transcriptionally active; however, NOS3AS appeared to downregulate the steady-state levels of NOS3 mRNA and protein. RT-PCR showed that overexpression of the overlapping region of NOS3AS had little impact on NOS3 mRNA levels in HUVECs; however, Western blot analysis showed that NOS3 protein levels were markedly reduced. NOS3AS also reduced the expression of a chimeric transcript containing the NOS3-overlapping sequence fused to a reporter gene. Inhibition of NOS3AS expression by RNA interference (RNAi) in HAOVSMCs increased NOS3 expression, and inhibition of histone deacetylase in HAOVSMCs increased expression of NOS3AS mRNA prior to decrease in NOS3 mRNA expression.