The expression levels of HOXA11-AS in
ox-LDL-treated HUVECs and arch tissues of high-fat diet-fed
ApoE-/- mice (n = 10) were assessed by qRT-PCR. The effects of HOXA11-AS knockdown on the development of
atherosclerosis were evaluated using in vitro and in vivo models.
Luciferase reporter and
RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays verified the potential relationships between HOXA11-AS or ROCK1 and miR-515-5p. The interactive roles between HOXA11-AS and miR-515-5p and between miR-515-5p and ROCK1 were further characterized in
ox-LDL-treated HUVECs. Our data showed that HOXA11-AS was significantly up-regulated (P < 0.001), whereas miR-515-5p was dramatically down-regulated in AS mice tissues (P < 0.001) and
ox-LDL-treated HUVECs (P < 0.01).
Ox-LDL could induce endothelial
injuries by inhibiting cell proliferation (P < 0.001) and SOD synthesis (P < 0.001), promoting apoptosis (P < 0.01), ROS (P < 0.001), and MDA production (P < 0.001), increasing Bax (P < 0.001) and cleaved
Caspase-3 (P < 0.001), and decreasing Bcl-2 (P < 0.001) and phosphorylated eNOS (P < 0.01). HOXA11-AS knockdown attenuated endothelial
injuries via increasing eNOS phosphorylation.
Luciferase assay and RIP results confirmed that miR-515-5p is directly bound to HOXA11-AS and ROCK1. HOXA11-AS promoted
ox-LDL-induced HUVECs injury by directly inhibiting miR-515-5p from increasing ROCK1 expression and subsequently decreasing the expression and phosphorylation of eNOS. MiR-515-5p mimics could partially reverse the effects of HOXA11-AS knockdown.
CONCLUSIONS: