Astragaloside IV protects ATDC5 cells from lipopolysaccharide-caused damage through regulating miR-203/MyD88
Authors: Guangcheng Li
Junfeng Zhang
Dexin Li
Yifei Li
Bo Liu
Linglong Sun
Yang Chen
Dexuan Gao
Journal: Pharmaceutical biology (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: AS-IV; inflammatory; osteoarthritis.
Affiliations: Department of Sports Medicine, Jilin City Central Hospital, Jilin, China., Department of Joint Surgery, Jilin City Central Hospital, Jilin, China., Department of Dermatology, Jilin City Central Hospital, Jilin, China.

Abstract:  Context: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative arthrosis sickness. Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) functions by relieving inflammatory damage.Objective: We aimed to investigate the mechanism by which AS-IV protects ATD cells from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced damage.Materials and methods: ATDC5 cells were transfected with miR-203 inhibitor and NC inhibitor (150 nM) or pEX-MyD88 and sh-MyD88 (50 nM) for 48 h, pre-treated by 15 μg/mL AS-IV for 24 h, then treated by 5 μg/mL LPS for 12 h. Dual-luciferase activity testing was used to determine whether miR-203 could bind to MyD88. CCK-8 and flow cytometry were used to detect cell activity and apoptosis, respectively, and qRT-PCR, western blots, and ELISA were performed to detect expression levels of miR-203 and inflammatory cytokines.Results: Based on the 50% inhibiting concentration (IC50), there was no significant difference of AS-IV (0 to 15 μg/mL) on cell viability. Fifteen μg/mL was the optimal concentration of AS-IV in treating LPS-induced inflammatory damage in subsequent experiments since this was a semi-lethal concentration. AS-IV significantly reduces LPS-induced viability, apoptosis and the release of TNF-α, IL-6 and iNOS mainly through up-regulating miR-203. Further, MyD88 was a target gene of miR-203 and negatively regulated by miR-203. Knockdown of MyD88 inhibited LPS-induced inflammatory damage by inhibiting the NF-κB signal pathway.Discussion and conclusions: AS-IV protects ATDC5 cells against LPS-induced damage mainly via regulating miR-203/MyD88. Our results support a theoretical basis for in-depth study of the function of AS-IV and the clinical cure of OA. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 This paper belongs to a set of over 400 papers (as per February 2020) that share very similar Western blots with tadpole-like shaped bands, the same background pattern, and striking similarities in title structures, paper layout, bar graph design, and - in a subset - flow cytometry panels. Despite these similarities, these papers are authored by researchers from different departments and institutes, with almost no overlap in authors. The list of these papers is available here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1KXqTAyl4j-jVorFPMD2XRpr76LcIKJ0CVyIvRj0exYQ edit?usp=sharing A more detailed description of this set of papers, suspected to all be generated by a common source, a paper mill , can be found here: * https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers (January 2020) * https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 02 21 the-tadpole-paper-mill (February 2020) The same paper mill has been described in these papers: * Jana Christopher - Systematic fabrication of scientific images revealed - FEBS Letters (2018) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13201 * Jennifer A Byrne and Jana Christopher - Digital magic, or the dark arts of the 21st centuryu2014how can journals and peer reviewers detect manuscripts and publications from paper mills? - FEBS Letters (2020) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13747 , 
 #1 An August 19, 2021 [announcement ](http: www.nhc.gov.cn cms-search xxgk getManuscriptXxgk.htm?id=159bcc53148340d48336060e65571a1c) by  National Health Commission of the People s Republic of China reported the results of investigation of 10 papers flagged on Pubpeer, together with disciplinary actions against the authors. The current paper is the #2 case in the list. Here is a screenshot: ![file] ,