不同运动强度对急性心肌梗死大鼠心功能的影响及循环miRNAs差异表达

研究不同运动强度对急性心肌梗死大鼠心功能的影响, 分析循环微小RNA(microRNAs, miRNAs)的差异表达与靶基因及基因功能. 制作急性心肌梗死大鼠模型40只,分为4组, 每组10只, 分别为假手术组、单纯心肌梗死组、中等强度持续运动(continuous moderate training, CMT)组和间歇高强度运动(high intensity interval training, HIT)组, CMT组和HIT组大鼠接受运动治疗8周, 用超声心动图评估心功能, 用基因芯片技术测定4组大鼠模型循环miRNAs差异表达, 用生物信息学技术分析不同运动强度下循环miRNAs相关靶基因及基因功能. CMT组和HIT组的治疗显著改善了心肌梗死大鼠心功能和运动耐量, HIT组显著优于CMT组. 单纯心肌梗死组与假手术组相比, 明显上调的循环miRNAs有14个, 明显下调的循环miRNAs有4个. 与单纯心肌梗死组相比, CMT组明显上调的循环miRNAs有11个, 明显下调的循环miRNAs有2个; HIT组明显上调的循环miRNAs有53个, 明显下调的关键miRNAs有41个. 与假手术组相比, 单纯心肌梗死组心肌相关循环miRNAs的差异表达有miR-26a-5p, miR-92a-3p和miR-378a-3p; 与单纯心肌梗死组相比, CMT组有miR-92a-3p, HIT组有miR-34c-3p, miR-23a-3p, miR-98-3p, miR-208a-5p和miR-92-3p. 高强度间歇运动对心肌梗死大鼠心功能和运动耐量的改善作用优于中等强度持续运动, 其循环miRNAs及心肌相关循环miRNAs的差异表达数量明显高于中等强度持续运动, 循环miRNAs差异表达有望作为运动强度和运动效果判断的分子生物学标志物.     

Silencing of microRNAs in vivo with 'antagomirs'

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of non-coding RNAs that are believed to be important in many biological processes through regulation of gene expression. The precise molecular function of miRNAs in mammals is largely unknown and a better understanding will require loss-of-function studies in vivo. Here we show that a novel class of chemically engineered oligonucleotides, termed 'antagomirs', are efficient and specific silencers of endogenous miRNAs in mice. Intravenous administration of antagomirs against miR-16, miR-122, miR-192 and miR-194 resulted in a marked reduction of corresponding miRNA levels in liver, lung, kidney, heart, intestine, fat, skin, bone marrow, muscle, ovaries and adrenals. The silencing of endogenous miRNAs by this novel method is specific, efficient and long-lasting. The biological significance of silencing miRNAs with the use of antagomirs was studied for miR-122, an abundant liver-specific miRNA. Gene expression and bioinformatic analysis of messenger RNA from antagomir-treated animals revealed that the 3' untranslated regions of upregulated genes are strongly enriched in miR-122 recognition motifs, whereas downregulated genes are depleted in these motifs. Analysis of the functional annotation of downregulated genes specifically predicted that cholesterol biosynthesis genes would be affected by miR-122, and plasma cholesterol measurements showed reduced levels in antagomir-122-treated mice. Our findings show that antagomirs are powerful tools to silence specific miRNAs in vivo and may represent a therapeutic strategy for silencing miRNAs in disease.     

A pancreatic islet-specific microRNA regulates insulin secretion

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a growing class of non-coding RNAs that are thought to regulate gene expression by translational repression. Several miRNAs in animals exhibit tissue-specific or developmental-stage-specific expression, indicating that they could play important roles in many biological processes. To study the role of miRNAs in pancreatic endocrine cells we cloned and identified a novel, evolutionarily conserved and islet-specific miRNA (miR-375). Here we show that overexpression of miR-375 suppressed glucose-induced insulin secretion, and conversely, inhibition of endogenous miR-375 function enhanced insulin secretion. The mechanism by which secretion is modified by miR-375 is independent of changes in glucose metabolism or intracellular Ca2+-signalling but correlated with a direct effect on insulin exocytosis. Myotrophin (Mtpn) was predicted to be and validated as a target of miR-375. Inhibition of Mtpn by small interfering (si)RNA mimicked the effects of miR-375 on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and exocytosis. Thus, miR-375 is a regulator of insulin secretion and may thereby constitute a novel pharmacological target for the treatment of diabetes.     

循环血miR-21-3p作为脓毒症心肌病的标记物

已有研究发现微小RNA(microRNAs, miRNAs) 可由细胞分泌并释放进入循环系统, 在血清、血浆、尿液和其他体液中稳定存在, 并可作为非损伤性生物标记物对多种疾病进行早期诊断、鉴别分期、预后判断和疗效监测等. 与健康对照者相比, miR-21-3p 在22 例脓毒症心衰患者血浆中显著升高. 通过绘制受试者工作特征(receiver operating characteristic, ROC)曲线, 并分析其与临床参数的相关性发现, miR-21-3p 在鉴别脓毒症心衰和健康人群时, 曲线下面积(area under the curve, AUC)为0.949. 相关性分析结果显示, 血浆miR-21-3p水平与B 型脑钠肽(brain natriuretic peptide, BNP)(r = 0.968, P < 0.001)、心肌肌钙蛋白T (cardiac troponin T, cTNT)(r = 0.257, P = 0.002)水平呈正相关. 因此, 外周血中的miR-21-3p有作为脓毒症心肌病的生物标记物的潜力.     

Correlation of microRNAs responding to high dose γ-irradiation with predicted target mRNAs in HeLa cells using microarray analyses

An increasing data indicates that altered microRNAs （miRNAs） participate in the radiation-induced DNA damage response. However, a correlation of mRNA and miRNA profiles across the entire genome and in response to irradiation has not been thor- oughly assessed. We analyzed miRNA microarray data collected from HeLa cells after ionizing radiation （IR）, quantified the ex- pression profiles of mRNAs and performed comparative analysis of the data sets using target prediction algorithms, Gene Ontol- ogy （GO） analysis, pathway analysis, and gene network construction. The results showed that the altered miRNAs were involved in regulation of various cellular functions, miRNA-gene network analyses revealed that miR- 186, miR- 106b, miR- 15 a/b, CCND 1 and CDK6 played vital role in the cellular radiation response. Using qRT-PCR, we confirmed that twenty-two miRNAs showed differential expression in HeLa cells treated with IR and some of these miRNAs affected cell cycle progression. This study demonstrated that miRNAs influence gene expression in the entire genome during the cellular radiation response and suggested vital pathways for further research.     

LNA-mediated microRNA silencing in non-human primates

microRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNAs that are important in development and disease and therefore represent a potential new class of targets for therapeutic intervention. Despite recent progress in silencing of miRNAs in rodents, the development of effective and safe approaches for sequence-specific antagonism of miRNAs in vivo remains a significant scientific and therapeutic challenge. Moreover, there are no reports of miRNA antagonism in primates. Here we show that the simple systemic delivery of a unconjugated, PBS-formulated locked-nucleic-acid-modified oligonucleotide (LNA-antimiR) effectively antagonizes the liver-expressed miR-122 in non-human primates. Acute administration by intravenous injections of 3 or 10 mg kg(-1) LNA-antimiR to African green monkeys resulted in uptake of the LNA-antimiR in the cytoplasm of primate hepatocytes and formation of stable heteroduplexes between the LNA-antimiR and miR-122. This was accompanied by depletion of mature miR-122 and dose-dependent lowering of plasma cholesterol. Efficient silencing of miR-122 was achieved in primates by three doses of 10 mg kg(-1) LNA-antimiR, leading to a long-lasting and reversible decrease in total plasma cholesterol without any evidence for LNA-associated toxicities or histopathological changes in the study animals. Our findings demonstrate the utility of systemically administered LNA-antimiRs in exploring miRNA function in rodents and primates, and support the potential of these compounds as a new class of therapeutics for disease-associated miRNAs.     

MicroRNA及其靶基因在糖尿病肾病小鼠肾脏的表达

 验证与糖尿病肾病小鼠肾脏相关的microRNAs的表达并运用实时荧光定量PCR分析靶基因与糖尿病肾病的关系。以db/db小鼠为模型组（DN组）,db/m小鼠为正常组（NC组）,定期测量小鼠的体重、血糖、甘油三酯、总胆固醇及24 h尿蛋白排泄率。留取DN小鼠与NC小鼠肾脏组织,检测肾脏组织形态学染色及实时荧光定量PCR（qRT-PCR）。qRT-PCR验证差异表达的microRNAs及其靶基因的mRNA表达水平。血糖、24 h尿蛋白排泄率结果表明糖尿病肾病动物模型构建成功。与NC小鼠相比,DN小鼠肾脏miR-196a、miR-21、miR-200b表达明显升高,且差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。miR-196a、miR-200b、miR-21的表达水平与血糖、甘油三酯、总胆固醇、24 h尿蛋白排泄率存在正相关关系（P<0.05）。利用miRNAs数据库预测miR-196a的靶基因有ANX1、HOXB7、PTEN、FOXO1、HOXB8、HOXA5等。与NC组比较,DN组ANX1、FOXO1的mRNA表达水平降低,且差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。同时ANX1、FOXO1与24 h尿蛋白排泄率存在正相关（P<0.05）。MiR-196a可能通过调节ANX1、FOXO1的表达水平来参与糖尿病肾病的发生发展。     

A viral microRNA functions as an orthologue of cellular miR-155

All metazoan eukaryotes express microRNAs (miRNAs), roughly 22-nucleotide regulatory RNAs that can repress the expression of messenger RNAs bearing complementary sequences. Several DNA viruses also express miRNAs in infected cells, suggesting a role in viral replication and pathogenesis. Although specific viral miRNAs have been shown to autoregulate viral mRNAs or downregulate cellular mRNAs, the function of most viral miRNAs remains unknown. Here we report that the miR-K12-11 miRNA encoded by Kaposi's-sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) shows significant homology to cellular miR-155, including the entire miRNA 'seed' region. Using a range of assays, we show that expression of physiological levels of miR-K12-11 or miR-155 results in the downregulation of an extensive set of common mRNA targets, including genes with known roles in cell growth regulation. Our findings indicate that viral miR-K12-11 functions as an orthologue of cellular miR-155 and probably evolved to exploit a pre-existing gene regulatory pathway in B cells. Moreover, the known aetiological role of miR-155 in B-cell transformation suggests that miR-K12-11 may contribute to the induction of KSHV-positive B-cell tumours in infected patients.     

Clinical and pathological features of miR-10b and RHOC gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

Aberrant expression of microRNAs （miRNAs） was reported frequently in different human cancers. The major role of miRNA is targeting 31-UTR of coding gene and causing translational repression or mRNA degradation. miR-10b overexpression was reported to promote breast cancer metastasis by up-regulating RHOC expression. But its expression in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） remains unclear. Our study indicated that the expression of miR-10b was different in HCC and adjacent tissue samples, and reduced expression of miR-10b in HCC was related tovein invasion. High-level expression of RHOC was also related to vein invasion in HCC. But no correlation was found between miR-10b and RHOC expression. These results suggest that miR-10b and RHOC are independent predictors of HCC invasion and metastasis.     

血清miR-25、miR-223和miR-373作为食管鳞癌生物标志物的评价

为了探讨血清miRNA作为诊断标志物的可行性,利用茎环引物进行qRT-PCR,检测了miR-25、miR-223和miR-373在正常人血清、食管鳞癌患者术前和术后第7 d血清、癌组织和癌旁组织的相对表达量.实验结果表明:术前食管鳞癌病人的3种血清miRNA相对表达量高于正常人和手术后第7 d病人,AUC分别为0.794、0.839和0.873,癌组织的这3种miRNA相对表达量高于癌旁组织.这3种miRNA在食管癌患者癌组织的高表达导致血清的这3种miRNA含量增高,因此这3种血清miRNA可以作为候选诊断标志物.     

美洲鲎miRNA的生物信息学挖掘与分析

利用miRBase数据库中已有动物的小RNA（miRNA）,通过生物信息学方法对美洲鲎(Limulus polyphemus)表达序列标签（Expressed Sequences Tag,EST）和cDNA进行序列比对,挖掘美洲鲎miRNA,得到了 72个miRNA前体(pre-miRNA)、49个可编码成熟miRNA,隶属于40个miRNA家族。miRNA家族归类结果表明,无论在低等脊椎动物还是高等动物中,miRNA家族的存在都是相当保守的。以miR-10基因前体为例,分析其序列与其他物种同源序列的差异,显示miRNA序列的高度保守性。miR-10前体序列分析系统进化发现,物种聚类与传统分类亲缘关系一致。