Background and objectives: The goal of this study was to investigate the mechanism of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived microRNA (miR)-150-5p-expressing exosomes in promoting skin wound healing through activating PI3K/AKT pathway by PTEN.
Methods and results: Human umbilical cord (HUC)-MSCs were infected with miR-150-5p overexpression and its control lentivirus, and HUC-MSCs-derived exosomes (MSCs-Exos) with stable expression of miR-150-5p were obtained. HaCaT cells were induced by H2O2 to establish a cellular model of skin injury, in which the expression of miR-150-5p and PTEN and the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT were evaluated. HaCaT cells were transfected with pcDNA3.1-PTEN or pcDNA3.1 and then cultured with normal exosomes or exosomes stably expressing miR-150-5p. Cell proliferation was inspected by CCK-8. Cell migration was detected by scratch test and cell apoptosis by flow cytometry. The starBase tool was used to predict the binding site of miR-150-5p to PTEN. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay were applied to assess the interaction between miR-150-5p and PTEN. In H2O2-induced HaCaT cells, the miR-150-5p expression decreased, and PTEN expression increased in a concentration-dependent manner. MSCs-Exos promoted the growth and migration of H2O2-induced HaCaT cells and inhibited their apoptosis. In addition, overexpression of exosomal miR-150-5p enhanced the protective effect of MSCs-Exos on H2O2-induced HaCaT cells; PTEN overexpression in HaCaT cells partially restrained miR-150-5p-mediated inhibition on H2O2-induced injury in HaCaT cells. PTEN was a target gene of miR-150-5p. MiR-150-5p regulated PI3K/AKT pathway through PTEN.
Conclusions: MSCs-derived miR-150-5p-expressing exosomes promote skin wound healing by activating PI3K/AKT pathway through PTEN.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes; Migration; PI3K/AKT pathway; PTEN; Proliferation; Skin wound healing; miR-150-5p.