Abstract:
Objective: To investigate the effects of circular non-coding RNA (circRNA) ACTR2 on high glucose-induced cell proliferation,apoptosis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in renal tubular epithelial cells by regulating microRNA-101-3p (miR-101-3p)/nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5) axis.
Methods: Human renal tubular epithelial cells HK-2 were cultured
in vitro and randomly divided into control group and high glucose group (30 mmol/L glucose).The cells in the high glucose group were transfected and set as small interfering RNA negative control (si NC) group,circACTR2-specific small interfering RNA(si circACTR2) group,si circACTR2+inhibitor negative control (inhibitor NC) group,and si circACTR2+miR-101-3p inhibitor (miR-101-3p inhibitor) group.Flow cytometry and CCK-8 were used to detect apoptosis and proliferation,respectively;qRT-PCR was applied to determine the mRNA expression of circACTR2,miR-101-3p and NFAT5 in cells;Western blotting was employed to analyze the expression levels of proliferation protein Ki-67,anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2,E-cadherin,α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and NFAT5;ELISA was performed to detect the level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in cells;the dual luciferase assay was used to verify the targeted relationships of circACTR2 and NFAT5 with miR-101-3p.
Results: MiR-101-3p had targeted relationships with circACTR2 and NFAT5.Compared with the control group,the apoptosis rate,TNF-α,IL-6,circACTR2,NFAT5 and α-SMA levels in the high glucose group increased (
P<0.05),while cell optical density (OD
450) values (24,48 hours),miR-101-3p,Bcl-2,Ki-67,and E-cadherin levels decreased (
P<0.05).Compared with the si NC group,the apoptosis rate,TNF-α,IL-6,circACTR2,NFAT5 and α-SMA levels in the si circACTR2 group decreased (
P<0.05),while cell OD
450 values (24,48 hours),miR-101-3p,Bcl-2,Ki-67 and E-cadherin levels increased (
P<0.05).Compared with the si circACTR2+inhibitor NC group,the apoptosis rate,TNF-α,IL-6,circACTR2,NFAT5 and α-SMA levels in the si circACTR2+miR-101-3p inhibitor group increased (
P<0.05),while cell OD
450 values (24,48 hours),miR-101-3p,Bcl-2,Ki-67 and E-cadherin levels decreased (
P<0.05).
Conclusions: Interfering circACTR2 expression can promote high glucose-induced proliferation,inhibit its apoptosis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in HK-2 cells,which may be related to the regulation of miR-101-3p/NFAT5 axis.