MicroRNA-126b-5p Exacerbates Development of Adipose Tissue and Diet-Induced Obesity.

Abstract

Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, caused by many factors such as genetic regulatory elements, unhealthy diet, and lack of exercise. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding single-stranded RNA classes, which are about 22 nucleotides in length and highly conserved among species. In the last decade, a series of miRNAs were identified as therapeutic targets for obesity. In the present study, we found that miR-126b-5p was associated with adipogenesis. miR-126b-5p overexpression promoted the proliferation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes by upregulating the expression of proliferation-related genes and downregulating the expression of apoptosis-related genes; the inhibition of miR-126b-5p gave rise to opposite results. Similarly, miR-126b-5p overexpression could promote the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes by increasing the expression of lipid deposition genes and triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels. Moreover, luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that adiponectin receptor 2 (Adipor2) and acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, long chain (ACADL) were the direct target genes of miR-126b-5p. Moreover, overexpression of miR-126b-5p could exacerbate the clinical symptoms of obesity when mice were induced by a high-fat diet, including increased adipose tissue weight, adipocyte volume, and insulin resistance. Interestingly, overexpression of miR-126b-5p in preadipocytes and mice could significantly increase total fatty acid content and change the fatty acid composition of adipose tissue. Taken together, the present study showed that miR-126b-5p promotes lipid deposition in vivo and in vitro, indicating that miR-126b-5p is a potential target for treating obesity.

• Authors: Linyuan Shen, Jin He, Ye Zhao, Lili Niu, Lei Chen, Guoqing Tang, Yanzhi Jiang, Xiaoxia Hao, Lin Bai, Xuewei Li, Shunhua Zhang, Li Zhu
• Journal: International journal of molecular sciences (Int J Mol Sci) Vol. 22 Issue 19 (Sep 23 2021) ISSN: 1422-0067 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 34638602 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Fatty Acids
• Lipids
• MicroRNAs
• Triglycerides
• Cholesterol

Topics

• 3T3-L1 Cells
• Adipocytes (metabolism)
• Adipogenesis (genetics)
• Adipose Tissue (metabolism)
• Animals
• Apoptosis (genetics)
• Cell Differentiation (genetics)
• Cell Line
• Cell Proliferation (genetics)
• Cholesterol (genetics)
• Diet, High-Fat
• Fatty Acids (genetics)
• Female
• HEK293 Cells
• Humans
• Lipids (genetics)
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred C57BL
• MicroRNAs (genetics)
• Obesity (genetics)
• Triglycerides (genetics)