miR-20b inhibits the senescence of human umbilical vein endothelial cells through regulating the Wnt/[beta]-catenin pathway via the TXNIP/NLRP3 axis

• Published in: International journal of molecular medicine 2020-03, Vol.45 (3), p.847
• Main Authors: Dong, Feifei, Dong, Shaohua, Liang, Ying, Wang, Ke, Qin, Yongwen, Zhao, Xianxian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiovascular diseases; Cell cycle; Diseases; Endothelium; Genes; Health aspects; Instrument industry (Equipment); Luciferase; Medical research; Messenger RNA; MicroRNA; Pharmaceutical industry; Polymerase chain reaction; RNA; Scientific equipment industry; Thioredoxins; Transcription (Genetics)
• ISSN: 1107-3756
• DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2020.4457

Endothelial cell senescence is closely related to the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases and microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are considered as therapeutic targets for cardiovascular disease. The current study aimed to investigate the role of miR-20b in the senescence process of endothelial cells and its underlying mechanism. Cell viability, proportion of senescent cells and the cell cycle were respectively determined by Cell Counting Kit-8, SA-[beta]-galactosidase and flow cytometry. The relative expressions of mRNA and protein were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively. The possible target genes and binding sites of miR-20b were predicted using Targetscan and further verified by dual luciferase reporter assay. The present study found that [H.sub.2][O.sub.2] inhibited cell viability, caused cell cycle arrest in G1 phase, decreased miR-20b level and induced cell senescence. Moreover, high expression of miR-20b promoted cell viability and reduced [H.sub.2][O.sub.2]-induced cell senescence, whereas low expression of miR-20b produced the opposite effects. Thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) was predicted as a target gene for miR-20b and knockdown of TXNIP increased cell viability, inhibited cell senescence, reduced the expression of p16, p21, TXNIP, NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) and cleaved Caspase-1 and reversed the promoting effects of the miR-20b inhibitor and [H.sub.2][O.sub.2] on cell senescence. Furthermore, the knockdown of TXNIP inhibited the Wnt/p-catenin pathway. The finding reveals that high expression of miR-20b inhibits the senescence of human umbilical vein endothelial cells through regulating the Wnt/p-catenin pathway via the TXNIP/NLRP3 axis.