MiR-361-5p promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of fibroblast-like synoviocytes via targeting ZBTB10 in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objectives

This study is aimed to explore the key role of miR-361-5p in fibroblast-like synovial (FLS) cells of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and explore the underlying mechanism.

Methods

First, we performed RT-qPCR to evaluate the expression of miR-361-5p in both synovial tissues of RA patients and cultured RA-FLS cells. Then CCK-8 assay, EdU staining, Western blot, flow cytometry, and ELISA were conducted to estimate the influence of inhibiting miR-361-5p on RA-FLS cells. Moreover, we used bioinformatics analysis to predict the potential targets of miR-361-5p and perform a dual luciferase report assay for verification. Finally, rescue experiments were performed to prove the role of miR-361-5p/Zinc Finger And BTB Domain Containing 10 (ZBTB10) in the proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptosis of RA-FLS.

Results

We find that the expression of miR-361-5p is increased in both RA tissues and cultured RA-FLS cells. The inhibition of miR-361-5p can not only inhibit proliferation, arrest the cell cycle in G1/G0 phase, and increase apoptosis, but also reduce the inflammatory factors secreted by RA-FLS cells. In addition, ZBTB10 is a direct target for miR-361-5p, over-expression of ZBTB10 reverses the effect of miR-361-5p in RA-FLS.

Conclusions

MiR-361-5p promotes the progression of rheumatoid arthritis by targeting ZBTB10.

Key points

• The influences of miR-361-5p on RA-FLS cells.

Keywords:

• Rheumatoid arthritis
• miR-361-5p
• ZBTB10
• fibroblast-like synovial cells

Ethical approval

The experimental protocol was established, according to the ethical guidelines of the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University.

Author contributions

Aixian Zhang drafted the manuscript, conceived and designed the study, and accomplished the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. Min Wu performed the acquisition of data and conducted the statistical analysis. Rong Lu and Huifang Lang performed the analysis and interpretation of the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Funding

The author(s) reported no funding was received.

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.