Overexpression miR-143-3p ameliorates joint injury and increases
Treg cells proportion in CIA mice
Considering the positive role of miR-143-3p on Treg, we hypothesized
that overexpressing miR-143-3p may ameliorate joint injury of CIA mice.
We treat CIA mice with 2 mg/kg of miR-143-3p mimics at day 28 and day 35
tail vein injection after the first immunization and evaluated disease
development. The high expression of miR-143-3p were observed, which
verified the success transfection (Figure 7G). We found that miR-143-3p
mimics markedly inhibited the development of CIA, with a significant
reduction of arthritis score, paw thickness (Figure 7A-C) and
histopathological scores (Figure 7D-F), when compared to mimics control
group. Additionally, the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines,
including TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β, remarkably decreased in the miR-143-3p
mimic group (Figure 7H). Overall, our data indicate a global
anti-inflammatory effect of miR-143-3p and confirm the potential of
miR-143-3p as a novel therapeutic target for RA.
Next, the effect of miR-143-3p mimic on the response of Treg cells was
examined. MiR-143-3p mimic treatment resulted in the increase of Treg
cells than in mimics control group, which was in accord with the results
in vitro (Figure 8A-B). As expected, the level of IL-10 and expression
of Foxp3 mRNA were also found at a relatively higher level in
miR-143-3p-treated mice (Figure 8C–D). In conclusion, these data
demonstrate that miR-143-3p exerts a protective role in the progression
of CIA through promoting Treg cells differentiation.