Systemic delivery of microRNA-181b inhibits nuclear factor-?B activation, vascular inflammation, and atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.
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ABSTRACT: Activated nuclear factor (NF)-?B signaling in the vascular endothelium promotes the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Targeting endothelial NF-?B may provide a novel strategy to limit chronic inflammation.To examine the role of microRNA-181b (miR-181b) in endothelial NF-?B signaling and effects on atherosclerosis.MiR-181b expression was reduced in the aortic intima and plasma in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice fed a high-fat diet. Correspondingly, circulating miR-181b in the plasma was markedly reduced in human subjects with coronary artery disease. Systemic delivery of miR-181b resulted in a 2.3-fold overexpression of miR-181b in the aortic intima of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice and suppressed NF-?B signaling revealed by bioluminescence imaging and reduced target gene expression in the aortic arch in apolipoprotein E-deficient/NF-?B-luciferase transgenic mice. MiR-181b significantly inhibited atherosclerotic lesion formation, proinflammatory gene expression and the influx of lesional macrophages and CD4+ T cells in the vessel wall. Mechanistically, miR-181b inhibited the expression of the target gene importin-?3, an effect that reduced NF-?B nuclear translocation specifically in the vascular endothelium of lesions, whereas surprisingly leukocyte NF-?B signaling was unaffected despite a 7-fold overexpression of miR-181b. Our findings uncover that NF-?B nuclear translocation in leukocytes does not involve importin-?3, but rather importin-?5, which miR-181b does not target, highlighting that inhibition of NF-?B signaling in the endothelium is sufficient to mediate miR-181b's protective effects.Systemic delivery of miR-181b inhibits the activation of NF-?B and atherosclerosis through cell-specific mechanisms in the vascular endothelium. These findings support the rationale that delivery of miR-181b may provide a novel therapeutic approach to treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis.
SUBMITTER: Sun X
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4051320 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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