MicroRNA-26a Regulates Cerebral Ischemia Injury Through Targeting PTEN

Objective: MicroRNA-26a (miR-26a) exhibits diverse functions in different human disease. However, further research is needed to investigate the potential role of miR-26a in cerebral ischemia injury.

Materials And Methods: The expressions of miR-26a and PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog) were detected via Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. The protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax was detected by Western blot assay. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay was used to observe the cell viability of SH-SY5Y cells. The relationship between miR-26a and PTEN was confirmed by Dual-Luciferase assay and human SH-SY5Y cells were treated with oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)/reperfusion to mimic I/R injury.

Results: The expression of miR-26a was increased in the OGDR model. Moreover, upregulation of miR-26a promoted cell viability and inhibited OGDR-induced apoptosis. PTEN was confirmed as a direct target gene for miR-26a. Under OGDR conditions, the expression of PTEN was significantly decreased. Moreover, overexpression of PTEN inhibited cell viability, promoted cell apoptosis and deepened the effect of the OGDR model.

Conclusions: MiR-26a promoted the viability of SH-SY5Y cells and suppressed apoptosis under OGDR conditions by targeting PTEN.