Oncotarget

Research Papers:

This article has been corrected. Correction in: Oncotarget. 2017; 8:59999.

Elevated microRNA-135a is associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension in experimental mouse model

Hyun-Wook Lee, Gabriele Grunig and Sung-Hyun Park _

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Oncotarget. 2017; 8:35609-35618. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.16011

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Abstract

Hyun-Wook Lee1, Gabriele Grunig1 and Sung-Hyun Park1

1 Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, New York, USA

Correspondence to:

Sung-Hyun Park, email:

Keywords: microRNA-135a, biomarker, pulmonary arterial hypertension, Th2 antigen, urban particulate matter

Received: January 28, 2017 Accepted: March 02, 2017 Published: March 08, 2017

Abstract

Multiple causes are associated with the complex mechanism of pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), but the molecular pathway in the pathogenesis of PAH is still insufficiently understood. In this study, we investigated epigenetic changes that cause PAH induced by exposure to combined Th2 antigen (Ovalbumin, OVA) and urban particulate matter (PM) in mice. To address that, we focused on the epigenetic mechanism, linked to microRNA (miR)-135a. We found that miR-135a levels were significantly increased, and levels of bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II (BMPR2) which is the target of miR-135a, were significantly decreased in this experimental PAH mouse model. Therefore to evaluate the role of miR-135a, we injected AntagomiR-135a into this mouse model. AntagomiR-135a injected mice showed decreased right ventricular systolic pressures (RVSPs), right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH), and the percentage of severely thickened pulmonary arteries compared to control scrambled miRNA injected mice. Both mRNA and protein expression of BMPR2 were recovered in the AntagomiR-135a injected mice compared to control mice. Our study understands if miR-135a could serve as a biomarker helping to manage PAH. The blocking of miR-135a could lead to new therapeutic modalities to alleviate exacerbation of PAH caused by exposure to Th2 antigen and urban air pollution.


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