Recently, the trend of obesity is becoming increasingly prevalent, and the underlying pathogenesis of obesity is complex and needs to be researched further. In this study, we report a decreased expression of let-7a-5p in the white adipose tissue (WAT) of animals with obesity. Using the RNA oligo, let-7a-5p over-expression or suppression-expression is achieved, impacting the proliferation and differentiation of preadipocytes in vitro. Srebf2 mechanistically interacts with the metabolic effect of let-7a-5p and participates in lipid accumulation by regulating Srebf2 downstream signaling. Moreover, let-7a-5p binds to Thbs1 to interact with the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway, down-regulating the phosphorylation levels of AKT, mTOR, and S6K1 to decrease lipid accumulation. In conclusion, our study highlights the physiological significance of let-7a-5p in lipid accumulation and suggests that the let-7a-5p/Srebf2 and let-7a-5p/Thbs1/PI3K-AKT-mTOR axes may represent potential mechanisms for controlling lipid accumulation in obesity.
Keywords: high-fat diet; lipid accumulation; preadipocytes; white adipose tissue.