miR-204 regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition by targeting SP1 in the tubular epithelial cells after acute kidney injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion

MicroRNA-296 Targets Specificity Protein 1 to Suppress Cell Proliferation and Invasion in Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. MicroRNA-296 (miR-296) is aberrantly expressed in a variety of human cancer types. However, the expression levels, biological roles, and underlying molecular mechanisms of miR-296 in cervical cancer remain unclear. This study aimed to detect miR-296 expression in cervical cancer and evaluate its roles and underlying mechanisms in cervical cancer. This study demonstrated that miR-296 was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. Restoring the expression of miR-296 inhibited the proliferation and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Moreover, miR-296 directly targeted the 3'-untranslated regions of specificity protein 1 (SP1) and decreased its endogenous expression at both the mRNA and protein levels. Similar to induced miR-296 expression, SP1 knockdown suppressed the proliferation and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Besides, resumption expression of SP1 rescued the tumor-suppressing roles of miR-296 in cervical cancer. These results indicated that miR-296 may act as a tumor suppressor in cervical cancer by directly targeting SP1. Therefore, SP1 may be developed as a therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with this malignancy.

The Role of c-SKI in Regulation of TGFβ-Induced Human Cardiac Fibroblast Proliferation and ECM Protein Expression

Cardiac fibrosis is characterized by over-deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and over-proliferation of cardiac fibroblast, and contributes to both systolic and diastolic dysfunction in many cardiac pathophysiologic conditions. Transforming growth factor β 1 (TGFβ1) is as an essential inducing factor of cardiac fibrosis. C-Ski protein has been identified as an inhibitory regulator of TGFβ signaling. In the present study, we revealed the repressive effect of c-Ski on TGFβ1-induced human cardiac fibroblast (HCFB) proliferation and ECM protein increase (Collagen I and α-SMA). Moreover, miR-155 and miR-17 could inhibit SKI mRNA expression by direct binding to the 3'UTR of SKI, so as to reduce c-Ski protein level. Either miR-155 inhibition or miR-17 inhibition could reverse TGFβ1-induced HCFB proliferation and ECM protein increase. Taken together, we provided a potential therapy to treat cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting miR-155/miR-17 so as to restore the repressive effect of c-Ski on TGFβ1 signaling. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1911-1920, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.