MicroRNA-302a inhibits adipogenesis by suppressing peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ expression

The present study explored the involvement of miR-302a in adipocyte differentiation via interaction with 3′-untranslated region of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) mRNA. In differentiating 3T3-L1 adipocytes, expression of miR-302a was negatively correlated with that of the adipogenic gene aP2 and PPARγ. Overexpression of miR-302a inhibited adipogenic differentiation with lipid accumulation, and inversely anti-miR-302a increased the differentiation. In silico analysis revealed a complementary region of miR-302a seed sequence in 3′-UTR of PPARγ mRNA. Luciferase assay showed the direct interaction of miR-302a with PPARγ at the cellular level. The miR-302a inhibition of adipocyte differentiation was reversed by PPARγ overexpression. These findings suggest that miR-302a might be a negative regulator of adipocyte differentiation and that the dysregulation of miR-302a should lead to metabolic disorders.     

miR-224 在原发性肝癌患者血清中的表达及意义

目的：原发性肝癌(primary hepatocellular carcinoma, PHC) 作为常见的恶性程度极高的肿瘤,严重威胁着人类的生命。 miR-224 是近年来发现的一个肿瘤相关miRNA 分子,在肿瘤的发生及发展过程中发挥着重要的作用。本研究通过测定原发性肝 癌患者血清中miR-224 的表达水平,探讨血清miR-224 与原发性肝癌预后的关系。方法：采用实时荧光定量RT-PCR (Real-time RT-PCR)方法,分别检测40 例原发性肝癌患者,20例慢性肝炎患者,20 例慢性肝硬化患者及20 例正常人的血清标本中miR-224 的表达水平。分析血清miR-224 的表达水平与AFP和MMP-9的相关性。结果：原发性肝癌患者血清miR-224 的表达水平明显高 于正常人、慢性肝炎和慢性肝硬化患者(P<0.05)。皮尔森相关分析结果显示原发性肝癌患者血清miR-224 的表达与AFP 和 MMP-9 呈正相关。血清miR-224 低表达组术后复发/转移率显著低于高表达组,术后生存率则高于高表达组(P<0.01)。结论： miR-224 在原发性肝癌患者的血清中呈高表达,其血清表达水平与原发性肝癌的临床预后密切相关。这提示我们,miR-224 可能 成为新的原发性肝癌检测标记物和潜在的原发性肝癌预后分子标志物。     

MiR-30a-3p 对人滋养肿瘤细胞系JEG-3 细胞侵袭功能的影响

目的：MiRNAs 对于胎盘的形成和正常妊娠的维持起着至关重要的作用,它在胎盘中的表达失衡的可能导致了妊娠相关疾 病的发生,我们前期研究发现miR-30a-3p 在子痫前期患者胎盘上特异性高表达,推测miR-30a-3p 可能参与了子痫前期的发生发 展过程,本课题通过观察miR-30a-3p 对人滋养肿瘤细胞系JEG-3 细胞侵袭能力的影响,深入探讨miR-30a-3p 在子痫前期发病过 程中的作用。方法：应用瞬时转染技术在人滋养肿瘤细胞系JEG-3 细胞中分别转染miR-30a-3p mimics、mimics NC为miR-30a-3p 过表达组和阴性对照组,空白转染组为空白对照组,利用荧光实时定量PCR 技术检测各组细胞中miR-30a-3p的表达,Transwell 实验检测各组细胞侵袭能力的差别。结果：荧光实时定量PCR结果显示miR-30a-3p 过表达组与阴性对照组、空白对照组相比 miR-30a-3p 的表达量明显升高,差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）;Transwell 实验结果显示miR-30a-3p过表达组细胞的侵袭能力与 阴性对照组、空白对照组相比均有降低,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。阴性对照组与空白对照组的侵袭能力差异无统计学意义 (P>0.05)。结论：miR-30a-3p 可以显著下调JEG-3 细胞的侵袭力, miR-30a-3p 有可能通过降低滋养细胞的浸润能力,导致滋养细胞 对子宫肌层和螺旋动脉的浸润不足,造成“胎盘浅着床”,从而在子痫前期的发病过程中发挥了重要的作用,miR-30a-3p 有望成为 诊治子痫前期疾病的靶点。     

The high expression of miR-31 in lung adenocarcinoma inhibits the malignancy of lung adenocarcinoma tumor stem cells

Therapies for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are mainly limited by drug resistance, metastasis or recurrence related to cancer stem cells (CSCs) with high proliferation and self-renewing. This research validated that miR-31 was over-expressed in LUAD by the analysis of generous clinical samples data. And the results of clinical data analysis showed that high expression of miR-31 was more common in patients with worse prognosis. The genes differentially expressed in LUAD tissues compared with normal tissues and A549CD133⁺ cells (LUAD CSCs) compared with A549 cells were separately screened from Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis and GEO datasets. The target genes that may play a role in the regulation of lung adenocarcinoma was screened by comparison between the differential genes and the target genes of miR-31. The functional enrichment analysis of GO Biological Processes showed that the expression of target genes related to cell proliferation was increased, while the expression of target genes related to cell invasion and metastasis was decreased in LUAD tissues and A549CD133⁺ cells. The results suggested that miR-31 may have a significant inhibitory effect on the differentiation, invasion, metastasis and adhesion of LUAD CSCs, which was verified in vivo and in vitro experiments. Knock down of miR-31 accelerated xenograft tumor growth and liver metastasis in vivo. Likewise, the carcinogenicity, invasion and metastasis of A549CD133⁺ CSCs were promoted after miR-31 knockdown. The study validated that miR-31 was up regulated in LUAD and its expression may affect the survival time of patients with lung adenocarcinoma, which indicated that miR-31 may have potential value for diagnosis and prognosis of LUAD. However, the inhibitory effect of miR-31 on tumorigenesis, invasion and metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma CSCs suggested its complexity in the regulation of lung adenocarcinoma, which may be related to its extensive regulation of various target genes.     

LncRNA ARAP1-AS1 aggravates the malignant phenotypes of ovarian cancer cells through sponging miR-4735-3p to enhance PLAGL2 expression

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading lethal gynecological cancers, causing serious harm to the health of female populations. Growing studies emphasize that lncRNAs serve as significant regulators in the tumorigenesis and evolution of numerous malignancies, including ovarian cancer. Recently, the oncogenic activity of lncRNA ARAP1-AS1 has been justified in a variety of cancers. However, the potential function of ARAP1-AS1 in ovarian cancer development is still unclear. Herein, we firstly revealed the expression profile of ARAP1-AS1 in ovarian cancer. Compared to normal samples and cells, upregulation of ARAP1-AS1 was observed in tissues and cells of ovarian cancer. Therewith, it was disclosed that knockdown of ARAP1-AS1 alleviated the carcinogenicity of ovarian cancer cells. Besides, our findings delineated that ARAP1-AS1 silence inhibited the expression of oncogene PLAGL2. Considering that ARAP1-AS1 was principally expressed in the the cytoplasm of ovarian cancer cells, we speculated that ARAP1-AS1 facilitated ovarian cancer progression via functioning as a ceRNA. Further investigations indicated that ARAP1-AS1 promoted PLAGL2 expression by competitively binding with miR-4735-3p. Of note, ARAP1-AS1 contributed to the malignant phenotypes of ovarian cancer cells through modulation of miR-4735-3p/PLAGL2 axis, revealing ARAP1-AS1 as a promising therapeutic target for ovarian cancer patients.

     

MiR-26a-5p alleviates cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction via targeting ADAM17

Cardiac hypertrophy has been a high prevalence rate throughout the world. It has posed a big threat to public health due to limited therapeutic approaches. Previous studies showed that pathological cardiac hypertrophy was associated with autophagy, microRNAs (miRNA), and other signaling pathways, while the molecular mechanisms remain incompletely characterized. In this study, we used thoracic aortic constriction (TAC)-induced mice and angiotensin-II (Ang-II)-induced H9C2 cell line as cardiac hypertrophy model to investigate the role of miR-26a-5p in cardiac hypertrophy. We found that miR-26a-5p was downregulated in cardiac hypertrophy mice. Overexpression of miR-26a-5p by type 9 recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV9) reversed the heart hypertrophic manifestations. The phenotypes were also promoted by miR-26a-5p inhibitor in Ang-II-induced H9C2 cells. Through miRNA profile analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay, ADAM17 was identified as a direct target of miR-26a-5p. Restored expression of ADAM17 disrupted the effect of miR-26a-5p on cardiac hypertrophy. To sum up, these results indicated that miR-26a-5p played an inhibitory role in cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction via targeting ADAM17. The miR-26a-5p-ADAM17-cardiac hypertrophy axis provided special insight and a new molecular mechanism for a better understanding of cardiac hypertrophy disease, as well as the diagnostic and therapeutic practice.     

MiR-148生物学功能研究进展*

microRNA(miRNA)是一种分布广泛、功能多样、在物种间高度保守的非编码单链RNA。miRNA可通过与目标mRNA的3'非编码区(3'UTR)完全或不完全靶向结合来调控基因的表达,在转录水平发挥调控作用。miRNA以稳定的形式存在于各种体液中,可作为不同生理或病理状态下的生物标志物。基于前期高通量测序发现miR-148在猪初乳与常乳外泌体中差异表达,拟从免疫、肿瘤及其他生物学功能,综述miR-148相关研究进展,以期为乳汁外泌体运载miR-148发挥生物学功能的研究提供参考。     

Inhibition of miR-188-5p alleviates hepatic fibrosis by significantly reducing the activation and proliferation of HSCs through PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway

Persistent hepatic damage and chronic inflammation in liver activate the quiescent hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and cause hepatic fibrosis (HF). Several microRNAs regulate the activation and proliferation of HSCs, thereby playing a critical role in HF progression. Previous studies have reported that miR-188-5p is dysregulated during the process of HF. However, the role of miR-188-5p in HF remains unclear. This study investigated the potential role of miR-188-5p in HSCs and HF. Firstly, we validated the miR-188-5p expression in primary cells isolated from liver of carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced mice, TGF-β1-induced LX-2 cells, livers from 6-month high-fat diet (HFD)-induced rat and 4-month HFD-induced mice NASH models, and human non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients. Furthermore, we used miR-188-5p inhibitors to investigate the therapeutic effects of miR-188-5p inhibition in the HFD + CCl₄ induced in vivo model and the potential role of miR-188-5p in the activation and proliferation of HSCs. This present study reported that miR-188-5p expression is significantly increased in the human NAFLD, HSCs isolated from liver of CCl₄ induced mice, and in vitro and in vivo models of HF. Mimicking the miR-188-5p resulted in the up-regulation of HSC activation and proliferation by directly targeting the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). Moreover, inhibition of miR-188-5p reduced the activation and proliferation markers of HSCs through PTEN/AKT pathway. Additionally, in vivo inhibition of miR-188-5p suppressed the HF parameters, pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory genes, and fibrosis. Collectively, our results uncover the pro-fibrotic role of miR-188-5p. Furthermore, we demonstrated that miR-188-5p inhibition decreases the severity of HF by reducing the activation and proliferation of HSCs through PTEN/AKT pathway.     

Hsa_circ_0069094 positively regulates the expression of oncogenic ZNF217 by competitively targeting miR-758–3p to promote the development of breast cancer

To investigate the functions and potential mechanisms of hsa_circ_0069094 in this cancer. The expression of hsa_circ_0069094, zinc finger protein 217 (ZNF217) and microRNA-758–3p (miR-758–3p) was detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and the protein level of ZNF217 was detected by western blot. Cell proliferation was assessed using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and colony formation assay. Cell cycle progression and cell apoptosis were determined using flow cytometry assay. Cell invasion and cell migration were monitored using transwell assay and wound healing assay. The protein levels of apoptosis-related proteins were quantified by western blot. The putative relationship between miR-758–3p and hsa_circ_0069094 and ZNF217 was confirmed using dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. Xenograft model was constructed in mice to explore the role of hsa_circ_0069094 on solid tumor growth.Hsa_circ_0069094 and ZNF217 were highly expressed, while miR-758–3p was poorly expressed in tissues and cells of breast cancer. Hsa_circ_0069094 knockdown or ZNF217 knockdown inhibited cell proliferation, invasion and migration and induced cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in breast cancer cells. The inhibitory effects of hsa_circ_0069094 knockdown on cell malignant behaviors were abolished by ZNF217 overexpression. Hsa_circ_0069094 competed with ZNF217 for the binding site of miR-758–3p, and hsa_circ_0069094 positively regulated ZNF217 expression by competitively binding to miR-758–3p. Hsa_circ_0069094 knockdown also blocked solid tumor growth in mice. Collectively, Hsa_circ_0069094 played oncogenic effects in breast cancer by activating the expression of ZNF217 via competitively binding to miR-758–3p, which might be a novel strategy for breast cancer suppression.     

MiR-935通过其靶基因Notch1调控胃癌SGC7901细胞的发生发展

目的:探究Mi R-935调控胃癌SGC7901细胞的增殖和浸润与Notch1基因表达的关系。方法:分别检测40例正常人胃粘膜组织与40例胃印戒细胞癌的Notch1表达情况,并分析胃印戒细胞癌组织中Notch1表达与患者年龄、性别、组织进展程度、TNM分期、有无淋巴结转移的关系;采用Mi R-935转染体外培养的SGC7901细胞系,检测Notch1的表达情况,其后采用Mi R-935抑制剂处理,通过Transwell实验检测胃癌细胞的侵袭能力,细胞划痕实验检测胃癌细胞迁移能力。结果:正常人胃粘膜组织中Notch1表达呈阴性,而胃印戒细胞癌组织中Notch1表达呈阳性;Notch1的表达与胃印戒细胞癌的TNM分期、有无淋巴结转移存在着显著的相关性;转染Mi R-935的SGC7901细胞Notch1表达明显上调,采用Mi R-935抑制剂处理后,Notch1的表达显著下降。结论:Mi R-935可能通过调控Notch1的表达调控胃癌的扩增和浸润。