MicroRNA‐26b‐5p Regulates Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation to Pericytes via Targeting Platelet‐Derived Growth Factor Receptor‐β and Interacting with Long non‐Coding RNA Maternally Expressed Gene 3 in Liver Fibrosis and Angiogenesis
Authors: Li Liying , Dong Chengbin , Yang Lin 
Published: June 2021

Background/AimsPericytes are important regulators of vascular morphogenesis and function in multiple biological processes, including liver fibrosis, which is closely associated with angiogenesis. However, the origin and functional role of pericytes during liver fibrosis have not been deciphered yet.MethodsMice received irradiation and transplantation of EGFP‐labeled bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), which obtained from EGFP transgenic mice and had been sorted and purified by immunomagnetic cell sorting with anti‐CD146 microbeads. Four weeks later, the BM was reconstructed and the chimera mice with EGFP‐labeled BMSCs were fed with methionine‐choline‐deficient and high fat (MCDHF) diet to build liver injury model. Expression of pericyte markers or fibrosis markers was characterized by qRT‐PCR, Western blot, immunofluerescent staining and microarray analysis. Biotin‐avidin pull‐down and lucifer reporter assay were performed to validate the binding of microRNA (miR)‐26b‐5p and its target platelet‐derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFR‐β). GO, KEGG and Reactome enrichment analysis was conducted to clarify the function of differentially expressed genes.ResultsIncreased expression of pericyte markers (e.g. PDGFR‐β, neural glial antigen 2, regulator of G protein signaling 5) was detected in MCDHF mice with a positive correlation with fibrosis markers (e.g. TGF‐β1, α‐smooth muscle actin, procollagen α1(I) and (III)). Numerous PDGFR‐β+ pericytes was found in the fibrotic liver not only around mature vessels but also around nascent vessels, and a significant proportion (72.5%) of pericytes in mouse fibrotic liver derived from BMSCs. BMSCs differentiated into pericytes under TGF‐β1 treatment in vitro. Long non‐coding RNA maternally expressed gene 3 (LncMEG3), which had been focused on its effects on angiogenesis recently, positively regulated PDGFR‐β expression during BMSC differentiation to pericytes. Bioinformatics analysis from three databases (miRanda, TargetScan, and RNA22v2) suggested that miR‐26b‐5p was predicted to target PDGFR‐β. MiR‐26b‐5p negatively regulated BMSC differentiation to pericytes via directly targeting PDGFR‐β in cultured BMSCs. GO, KEGG and Reactome enrichment analysis revealed that miR‐26b‐5p overexpression affected a list of genes associated with cell differentiation, angiogenesis and extracellular matrix. LncMEG3 acted as a molecular sponge of miR‐26b‐5p thus contributed to the de‐repression of miRNA target PDGFR‐β. MiR‐26b‐5p agomir blocked BMSC differentiation to pericytes and attenuates liver fibrosis and angiogenesis in vivo.ConclusionmiR‐26b‐5p regulates BMSC differentiation to pericytes via targeting PDGFR‐β and interacting with lncMEG3, which may represent an effective therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by grants from the National Natural and Science Foundation of China (81430013, 81500465) and the Project of Construction of Innovative Teams and Teacher Career Development for Universities and Colleges under Beijing Municipality(IDHT20150502)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.