Apoptosis in HUVECs induced by microRNA‑616‑3p via X‑linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein targeting

Chen,Hua; Liu,Xi; Wu,Yun; Wu,Xiayin; Wen,Xiaoli; Lu,Yanan; Zhao,Xingsheng

doi:10.3892/etm.2021.10093

Apoptosis in HUVECs induced by microRNA‑616‑3p via X‑linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein targeting

Authors:
- Hua Chen
- Xi Liu
- Yun Wu
- Xiayin Wu
- Xiaoli Wen
- Yanan Lu
- Xingsheng Zhao
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Affiliations: Department of Cardiology, Inner Mongolia People's Hospital, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010000, P.R. China
Published online on: April 21, 2021 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2021.10093
Article Number: 661
Copyright: © Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Atherosclerosis causes stroke and coronary heart disease and is associated with a high mortality rate worldwide. However, the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis remains unclear. Endothelial cell apoptosis is one of the early changes observed in atherosclerosis. Previous studies have found that microRNA (miR)‑616‑3p may be involved in the development of atherosclerosis, but the specific mechanism is not clear. The present study aimed to investigate whether miR‑616‑3p is involved in endothelial cell apoptosis and its underlying mechanism. The present study demonstrated that compared with normal HUVECs, HUVECs treated with oxidized low‑density lipoprotein expressed higher miR‑616‑3p and lower X‑linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) levels. In the present study, HUVECs were transfected with miR‑616‑3p mimic and Cell Counting Kit‑8 (CCK‑8), flow cytometry and TUNEL staining assays demonstrated that compared with miR‑616‑3p mimic control, the miR‑616‑3p mimic promoted HUVEC apoptosis. In addition, using StarBase 3.0 for bioinformatics analysis it was predicted that miR‑616‑3p may bind to the 3'untranslated region (UTR) of XIAP mRNA. The present study performed the CCK‑8, flow cytometry, TUNEL staining and dual‑luciferase reporter assays and demonstrated that miR‑616‑3p binds to the 3'UTR of the XIAP mRNA and inhibits its expression and that this further promotes apoptosis in HUVECs. In addition, western blotting demonstrated that compared with miR‑616‑3p mimic control, the miR‑616‑3p mimic increases the level of cleaved caspase‑3 in HUVECs. In summary, the present study demonstrated that miR‑616‑3p can directly inhibit the expression of XIAP mRNA by targeting its 3'UTR which promoted apoptosis in HUVECs. miR‑616‑3p and XIAP may be used as therapeutic targets of atherosclerosis in the future.

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