title: The role of microRNA-26b in human adipocyte differentiation and proliferation.
abstract: Recent findings indicate that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the regulatory network of adipogenesis and obesity. Thus far, only a few human miRNAs are known to function as adipogenic regulators, fanning interest in studies on the functional role of miRNAs during adipogenesis in humans. In a previous study, we used a microarray to assess miRNA expression during human preadipocyte differentiation. We found that expression of the miR-26b was increased in mature adipocytes. MiR-26b is an intronic miRNA located in the intron of CTDSP1 (carboxy terminal domain, RNA polymerase II, polypeptide A, small phosphatase 1). Target prediction and Renilla luciferase analyses revealed the phosphatase and tensin homolog gene (PTEN) as a putative target gene. In this study, we found that miR-26b was gradually upregulated during adipocyte differentiation. To understand the roles of miR-26b in adipogenesis, we adopted a loss-of-function approach to silence miR-26b stably in human preadipocytes. We found that miR-26b inhibition effectively suppressed adipocyte differentiation, as evidenced by decreased lipid droplets and the ability of miR-26b to decrease mRNA levels of adipocyte-specific molecular markers and triglyceride accumulation. Furthermore, the cell growth assay revealed that miR-26b inhibition promoted proliferation. Nevertheless, it had no effect on apoptosis. Taken together, these data indicate that miR-26b may be involved in adipogenesis and could be targeted for therapeutic intervention in obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Guixian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Guangfeng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Chenbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Chunmei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xirong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D050156:Adipogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; C528163:MIRN26 microRNA, human
keywords: AP2; C/EBPα; CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α; CCK-8; Differentiation; FBS; GAPDH); GFP; HSL; Human adipocyte; MicroRNA-26b; Obesity; PAM; PBS; PI; PPARγ; PTEN; Proliferation; RT-qPCR; SD; TNF-α; V-FITC; V-fluorescein isothiocyanate; adipocyte lipid-binding protein; cell counting kit-8; fetal bovine serum; glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; green fluorescent protein; hormone-sensitive lipase; pGLV-H1-GFP+Puro; pGLV3; peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ; phosphatase and tensin homolog gene; phosphate-buffered saline; preadipocyte medium; propidium iodide; real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; standard deviation; tumor necrosis factor α