MiR-203 Targets to the 3'-UTR of SLUG to Suppress Cerebral Infarction-Induced Endothelial Cell Growth and Motility

Yunsong Li; Wei Bi; Bing Han; Tao Yuan; Long Shi; Yang Liu; Huanhuan Sun; Xueyan Li; Xiang Gao

doi:10.1155/2021/5597567

MiR-203 Targets to the 3'-UTR of SLUG to Suppress Cerebral Infarction-Induced Endothelial Cell Growth and Motility

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021 Mar 1:2021:5597567. doi: 10.1155/2021/5597567. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yunsong Li^{1

2}, Wei Bi¹, Bing Han³, Tao Yuan¹, Long Shi¹, Yang Liu¹, Huanhuan Sun¹, Xueyan Li¹, Xiang Gao¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Vascular Surgery, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, China.
² Department of Vascular Surgery, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, China.
³ Department of Vascular Surgery, Baoding No. 2 Central Hospital, Zhuozhou 072750, China.

Abstract

Cerebral infarction is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, in which angiogenesis plays a critical role. On the other hand, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) function as key modulators in the formation and progression of cerebral infarction. However, the molecular mechanisms of miRNAs underlying cerebral infarction-associated angiogenesis remain unclear. In the present study, we indicated that the expression of miR-203 was significantly downregulated in serum samples derived from patients with cerebral infarction and in mice brain samples following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) compared with healthy controls. In vitro, the expression of miR-203 was obviously downregulated in hypoxia-induced human umbilical vein vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs). Functionally, ectopic expression of miR-203 drastically suppressed HUVEC proliferation, invasion, and migration. In addition, SLUG, a zinc finger transcriptional repressor, was identified as a direct target of miR-203 and was negatively correlated with miR-203 expression in MCAO mice and in hypoxia-induced HUVECs. Furthermore, overexpression of SLUG reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-203 on proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities of HUVECs. Taken together, our research provides a novel insight of the miR-203-SLUG axis into cerebral infarction-associated endothelial behaviors and may offer a powerful therapeutic target of cerebral ischemia.