The health of mammary gland is essential for lactation.
Epidermal growth factor (
EGF) is reported to play an important role in lactation initiation and miR-223 is a conserved
microRNA in anti-
inflammation. In this study,
EGF was found to induce a higher expression of miR-223 in goat mammary epithelial cell (gMEC). The downstream genes of miR-223 were screened by
RNA sequencing, including
Interferon-stimulated gene product 15 (ISG15), a pivotal immune responder, which was detected to be downregulated by
EGF and miR-223. Due to the correlation between
inflammation and apoptosis, the gMEC apoptosis modulated by
EGF, miR-223, and ISG15 was investigated, and the
protein expressions of Bcl-2/Bax,
Caspase 3 and p53 were examined to evaluate the apoptosis of gMEC. The
protein expressions of p-STAT3/STAT3, PR, FOXC1, and HOXA10, which had been shown to be related to
inflammation, were detected to assess the
inflammation of gMEC. This study provided a regulation axis,
EGF/miR-223/ISG15, and illustrated its regulation to gMEC apoptosis and
inflammation.