MiR-17-5p Inhibits TXNIP/NLRP3 Inflammasome Pathway and Suppresses Pancreatic β-Cell Pyroptosis in Diabetic Mice

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic progressive inflammatory metabolic disease with pancreatic β-cells dysfunction. The present study aimed to investigate whether miR-17-5p plays a protective effect on pancreatic β-cells function in diabetes mellitus (DM) mice and dissect the underlying mechanism. C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control, DM, DM + Lentivirus negative control (LV-NC), and DM + Lenti-OE™ miR-17-5p (LV-miR-17-5) groups. DM was established by feeding a high-fat diet and intraperitoneal injection with streptozotocin (STZ) in mice. Blood glucose and glucose tolerance in circulation were measured. Meanwhile, the activation of nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, pancreas pyroptosis, and the expression of miR-17-5p and thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) were detected in the pancreas of DM mice. Pancreatic β-cell line INS-1 subjected to different concentrations of glucose was used in experiments. Compared with control mice, glucose tolerance deficit, elevated blood glucose level, and decreased pancreatic islet size, were presented in DM mice, which was associated with a downregulation of miR-17-5p. Importantly, exogenous miR-17-5p alleviated pancreas injury, and consequently improved glucose tolerance and decreased blood glucose in DM mice. experiments showed that high glucose decreased miR-17-5p expression and impaired insulin secretion in INS-1 cells. Mechanistically, miR-17-5p inhibited the expression of TXNIP and NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and thus decreased pancreatic β-cell pyroptosis. Our results demonstrated that miR-17-5p improves glucose tolerance, and pancreatic β-cell function and inhibits TXNIP/NLRP3 inflammasome pathway-related pyroptosis in DM mice.