Key regulatory miRNAs in lipid homeostasis: implications for cardiometabolic diseases and development of novel therapeutics

MiR-34a-HK1 signal axis retards bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell senescence via ameliorating glycolytic metabolism

BACKGROUND

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are one of the most widely studied adult stem cells, while MSC replicative senescence occurs with serial expansion in vitro. We determined whether miR-34a can regulate MSC senescence by directly targeting glycolytic key enzymes to influence glycolysis.

METHODS

Detected the effects of miR-34a on MSC senescence and glycolytic metabolism through gene manipulation. Bioinformatics prediction and luciferase reporter assay were applied to confirm that HK1 is a direct target of miR-34a. The underlying regulatory mechanism of miR-34a targeting HK1 in MSC senescence was further explored by a cellular function recovery experiment.

RESULTS

In the current study, we revealed that miR-34a over-expression exacerbated senescence-associated characteristics and impaired glycolytic metabolism. Then we identified hexokinase1 (HK1) as a direct target gene of miR-34a. And HK1 replenishment reversed MSC senescence and reinforced glycolysis. In addition, miR-34a-mediated MSC senescence and lower glycolytic levels were evidently rescued following the co-treatment with HK1 over-expression.

CONCLUSION

The miR-34a-HK1 signal axis can alleviate MSC senescence via enhancing glycolytic metabolism, which possibly provides a novel mechanism for MSC senescence and opens up new possibilities for delaying and suppressing the occurrence and development of aging and age-related diseases.

Analysis of Circulating miRNA Expression Profiles in Type 2 Diabetes Patients with Diabetic Foot Complications

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with various complications, including diabetic foot, which can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Non-healing foot ulcers in diabetic patients are a major risk factor for infections and amputations. Despite conventional treatments, which have limited efficacy, there is a need for more effective therapies. MicroRNAs (miRs) are small non-coding RNAs that play a role in gene expression and have been implicated in diabetic wound healing. miR expression was analyzed through RT-qPCR in 41 diabetic foot Mexican patients and 50 controls. Diabetic foot patients showed significant increases in plasma levels of miR-17-5p (p = 0.001), miR-191-5p (p = 0.001), let-7e-5p (p = 0.001), and miR-33a-5p (p = 0.005) when compared to controls. Elevated levels of miR-17, miR-191, and miR-121 correlated with higher glucose levels in patients with diabetic foot ulcers (r = 0.30, p = 0.004; r = 0.25, p = 0.01; and r = 0.21, p = 0.05, respectively). Levels of miR-17 showed the highest diagnostic potential (AUC 0.903, p = 0.0001). These findings underscore the possible role of these miRs in developing diabetes complications. Our study suggests that high miR-17, miR-191, and miR-121 expression is strongly associated with higher glucose levels and the development of diabetic foot ulcers.

MicroRNA-582-3p knockdown alleviates non-alcoholic steatohepatitis by altering the gut microbiota composition and moderating TMBIM1

BACKGROUND

The gut dysbiosis correlates with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), involving the moderation of miRNAs.

AIMS

This study was aimed to investigate the correlation between gut microbiota and miR-582-3p in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and to explore the possible regulation of miR-582-3p in the function of the activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs).

METHODS

GSE69670 and GSE14435 datasets were analyzed by GEO2R. Plasma and fecal samples were obtained from the subjects, non-steatosis (n = 35), simple steatosis (n = 35), and NASH (n = 35). The variations in intestinal microbiota in the non-steatosis and NASH groups were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing. The expression of miR-582-3p among the groups was detected using RT-qPCR. Correlations between top-changed intestinal microbiota and miR-582-3p expression were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Target gene identification was performed by prediction and dual-luciferase reporter assay. The effect of miR-582-3p on the cell function of TGF-β1-induced HSCs was assessed in vitro.

RESULTS

miR-582-3p was the common differentially expressed miRNA between GSE69670 and GSE14435. miR-582-3p was upregulated in NASH patients' plasma, as well as in TGF-β1-induced LX-2 cells. The non-steatosis and NASH groups showed significantly different intestinal microbiota distribution. miR-582-3p was positively correlated with specific microbiota populations. TMBIM1 was a target gene for miR-582-3p. Knockdown of miR-582-3p suppressed HSC proliferation and myofibroblast markers' expression but induced cell apoptosis, via TMBIM1.

CONCLUSIONS

This present study suggests that miR-582-3p promotes the progression of NASH. Knockdown of miR-582-3p may alleviate NASH by altering the gut microbiota composition and moderating TMBIM1.

Unlocking the potential of microRNAs: machine learning identifies key biomarkers for myocardial infarction diagnosis

BACKGROUND

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in regulating adaptive and maladaptive responses in cardiovascular diseases, making them attractive targets for potential biomarkers. However, their potential as novel biomarkers for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases requires systematic evaluation.

METHODS

In this study, we aimed to identify a key set of miRNA biomarkers using integrated bioinformatics and machine learning analysis. We combined and analyzed three gene expression datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, which contains peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples from individuals with myocardial infarction (MI), stable coronary artery disease (CAD), and healthy individuals. Additionally, we selected a set of miRNAs based on their area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) for separating the CAD and MI samples. We designed a two-layer architecture for sample classification, in which the first layer isolates healthy samples from unhealthy samples, and the second layer classifies stable CAD and MI samples. We trained different machine learning models using both biomarker sets and evaluated their performance on a test set.

RESULTS

We identified hsa-miR-21-3p, hsa-miR-186-5p, and hsa-miR-32-3p as the differentially expressed miRNAs, and a set including hsa-miR-186-5p, hsa-miR-21-3p, hsa-miR-197-5p, hsa-miR-29a-5p, and hsa-miR-296-5p as the optimum set of miRNAs selected by their AUC-ROC. Both biomarker sets could distinguish healthy from not-healthy samples with complete accuracy. The best performance for the classification of CAD and MI was achieved with an SVM model trained using the biomarker set selected by AUC-ROC, with an AUC-ROC of 0.96 and an accuracy of 0.94 on the test data.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrated that miRNA signatures derived from PBMCs could serve as valuable novel biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases.

Regulation of whole-transcriptome sequencing expression in COPD after personalized precise exercise training: a pilot study

BACKGROUND

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the world's leading causes of death and a major chronic respiratory disease. Aerobic exercise, the cornerstone of pulmonary rehabilitation, improves prognosis of COPD patients; however, few studies have comprehensively examined the changes in RNA transcript levels and the crosstalk between various transcripts in this context. This study identified the expression of RNA transcripts in COPD patients who engaged in aerobic exercise training for 12 weeks, and further constructions of the possible RNAs networks were made.

METHODS

Peripheral blood samples for all four COPD patients who benefited from 12 weeks of PR were collected pre- and post-aerobic exercises and evaluated for the expression of mRNA, miRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA with high-throughput RNA sequencing followed by GEO date validation. In addition, enrichment analyses were conducted on different expressed mRNAs. LncRNA-mRNA and circRNA-mRNA coexpression networks, as well as lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA and circRNA-miRNA-mRNA competing expression networks (ceRNAs) in COPD were constructed.

RESULTS

We identified and analyzed the differentially expressed mRNAs and noncoding RNAs in the peripheral blood of COPD patients' post-exercise. Eighty-six mRNAs, 570 lncRNAs, 8 miRNAs, and 2087 circRNAs were differentially expressed. Direct function enrichment analysis and Gene Set Variation Analysis showed that differentially expressed RNAs(DE-RNAs) correlated with several critical biological processes such as chemotaxis, DNA replication, anti-infection humoral response, oxidative phosphorylation, and immunometabolism, which might affect the progression of COPD. Some DE-RNAs were validated by Geo databases and RT-PCR, and the results were highly correlated with RNA sequencing. We constructed ceRNA networks of DE-RNAs in COPD.

CONCLUSIONS

The systematic understanding of the impact of aerobic exercise on COPD was achieved using transcriptomic profiling. This research offers a number of potential candidates for clarifying the regulatory mechanisms that exercise has on COPD, which could ultimately help in understanding the pathophysiology of COPD.

SCAT8/miR-125b-5p axis triggers malignant progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma through SCARB1

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a tumor with high malignancy and poor prognosis, which severely affects the health of the patients. LncRNAs and microRNAs are crucial for the occurrence and development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which regulate the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma through the ceRNA network. SCARB1 plays an essential role in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, the mechanism underlying the regulation of SCARB1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma through non-coding RNAs remains unclear. Our findings indicated that the SCAT8/miR-125b-5p axis promoted the malignant progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma by driving the expression of SCARB1. Mechanistically, the expression of SCARB1 could be regulated by the lncRNA, SCAT8 and the microRNA, miR-125b-5p. Moreover, as a ceRNA of miR-125b-5p, SCAT8 can not only regulate the expression of SCARB1, but also regulate the malignant progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Notably, our results reveal a novel ceRNA regulatory network in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which could serve as a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Cardiac Metabolism and MiRNA Interference

The aberrant increase in cardio-metabolic diseases over the past couple of decades has drawn researchers' attention to explore and unveil the novel mechanisms implicated in cardiometabolic diseases. Recent evidence disclosed that the derangement of cardiac energy substrate metabolism plays a predominant role in the development and progression of chronic cardiometabolic diseases. Hence, in-depth comprehension of the novel molecular mechanisms behind impaired cardiac metabolism-mediated diseases is crucial to expand treatment strategies. The complex and dynamic pathways of cardiac metabolism are systematically controlled by the novel executor, microRNAs (miRNAs). miRNAs regulate target gene expression by either mRNA degradation or translational repression through base pairing between miRNA and the target transcript, precisely at the 3' seed sequence and conserved heptametrical sequence in the 5' end, respectively. Multiple miRNAs are involved throughout every cardiac energy substrate metabolism and play a differential role based on the variety of target transcripts. Novel theoretical strategies have even entered the clinical phase for treating cardiometabolic diseases, but experimental evidence remains inadequate. In this review, we identify the potent miRNAs, their direct target transcripts, and discuss the remodeling of cardiac metabolism to cast light on further clinical studies and further the expansion of novel therapeutic strategies. This review is categorized into four sections which encompass (i) a review of the fundamental mechanism of cardiac metabolism, (ii) a divulgence of the regulatory role of specific miRNAs on cardiac metabolic pathways, (iii) an understanding of the association between miRNA and impaired cardiac metabolism, and (iv) summary of available miRNA targeting therapeutic approaches.

Association of H-Type Hypertension with miR-21, miR-29, and miR-199 in Kazahks of Xinjiang, China

Objective

This study aims to analyze the expressions of miR-21, miR-29, and miR-199 in the serum of the patients with H-type hypertension among Kazakhs. Then, we analyzed the effect of MTHFR 677C > T polymorphism on the association between the above miRNA and H-type hypertension.

Method

In this study, the expression of miR-21, miR-29, and miR-199 was quantitatively measured in 120 serum samples and then stratified according to the C677T polymorphism to analyze the relationship between target miRNAs and HHcy.

Results

The expression of miR-21/-29 in the hypertension group was higher than the normal group (P < 0.001). And the expression of miR-199 was higher in the hcy group than in the normal group (P < 0.001). In the CC and CT genotypes of MTHFR 677C > T, the expression of miR-21 was lower in the HHcy patients than in the normal individuals (P = 0.005 and P = 0.001) and miR-199 was significantly higher in the HHcy patients than in the normal ones (P = 0.002 and P = 0.048). No such difference was found in the TT genotype. Logistic regression analysis showed that after adjusting for sex, age, BMI, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and MTHFRC677 T gene polymorphism, miR-21 was negatively correlated with hcy (OR = 0.222, 95% CI (0.101–0.485), P < 0.001) and miR-199 was positively correlated with hcy (OR = 1.823,95%CI (1.272∼2.614), P = 0.001).

Conclusion

miR-21, miR-29, and miR-199 are associated with H-type hypertension in the Kazakhs, especially hyperhomocysteinemia. And these three miRNAs may serve as biomarkers to provide clues to the potential pathogenesis of H-type hypertension.