Figures & data
Figure 1. Expression of miR-378 in peripheral blood and its clinical relevance. (A) Relative expression of miR-378 in normal subjects and PIH patients. *, P < 0.05 compared with normal subjects. (B) Relative expression of miR-378 in peripheral blood of normal subjects and patients with PIH, mild preeclampsia (mPE) or severe preeclampsia (sPE). *, P < 0.05.
Figure 2. Expression of miR-378 in NK cells from peripheral blood. (A) Flow cytometric confirmation of the separation of NK cells from PBMCs. (B) Relative expression of miR-378 in PBMCs from normal subjects and PIH patients. *, P < 0.05 compared with normal subjects. (C) Relative expression of miR-378 in NK cells from normal subjects and PIH patients. *, P < 0.05 compared with normal subjects.
Figure 3. Connection between CD226 and miR-378. (A) Bioinformatics prediction of the wild-type and mutant binding sites of miR-378 in CD226 mRNA. (B-C) Relative expression of miR-378 in NK cells transfected with (B) agomiR-378 or (C) antagomiR-378. qRT-PCR was used to determine the expression of miR-378. *, P < 0.05 compared with negative control (NC). (D-E) Relative expression of CD226 protein in NK cells transfected with (D) agomiR-378 or (E) antagomiR-378. Western blotting was used to determine the expression of CD226 protein. *, P < 0.05 compared with NC. (F) Direct binding of miR-378 with its target gene CD226 identified by dual luciferase reporter assay. *, P < 0.05 compared with NC.
Figure 4. Expression of soluble CD226 in NK cells after regulation by miR-378. (A-B) Flow cytometric analysis of the expression of soluble CD226 in NK cells transfected with (A) agomiR-378 or (B) antagomiR-378. (C-D) Expression of soluble CD226 in NK cells transfected with (C) agomiR-378 or (D) antagomiR-378 determined by Western blotting. *, P < 0.05 compared with negative control (NC) group.
Figure 5. Biological functions of HUVECs co-cultured with NK cells with up- or down-regulation of miR-378, and the effect of CD226. (A) Proliferation of HUVECs transfected with miR-NC or agomiR-378, or HUVECs transfected with agomiR-378 and cultured with recombinant CD226 protein (rescue group). *P < 0.05 compared with NC group. (B) Proliferation of HUVECs transfected with miR-NC or antagomiR-378, or HUVECs transfected with antagomiR-378 and cultured with CD226 antibody (rescue group). *P < 0.05 compared with NC group. (C) Absorbance of HUVECs transfected with miR-NC or agomiR-378, or HUVECs transfected with agomiR-378 and cultured with recombinant CD226 protein (rescue group). Transwell assay was used to evaluate migration ability. *P < 0.05 compared with NC group. (D) Absorbance of HUVECs transfected with miR-NC or antagomiR-378, or HUVECs transfected with antagomiR-378 and cultured with CD226 antibody (rescue group). Transwell assay was used to evaluate migration ability. *P < 0.05 compared with NC group. (E) Apoptotic rate of HUVECs transfected with miR-NC or agomiR-378, or HUVECs transfected with agomiR-378 and cultured with recombinant CD226 protein (rescue group). Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis. *P < 0.05 compared with NC group. (F) Apoptotic rate of HUVECs transfected with miR-NC or antagomiR-378, or HUVECs transfected with antagomiR-378 and cultured with CD226 antibody (rescue group). Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis. *P < 0.05 compared with NC group.
Availability of data and materials
The datasets used and/or analysed during this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.