MiR-544a Regulates Synovial Cell Proliferation, Invasion, Migration and Apoptosis by Targeting E2F2
In the present study, we aimed to explore the role of MiR-544a in inhibiting the proliferation and promoting apoptosis of rheumatoid arthritis synovial cells. Detected the expression of MiR-544 and E2F2 in Normal Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (NFLs) and Rheumatoid arthritis Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA-FLSs) by RT-qPCR and western blot. The target genes of MiR-544a were predicted by miRDB and were verified with the luciferase reporter system and western blot. The E2F2 overexpression plasmid was constructed and transfected into RAFLS. Cell apoptosis were detected by CCK-8. Wound healing and transwell assay were employed to detect cell invasion ability. The expression of E2F2, MMP2 and MMP9 were measured by Western blot. Further, the level of apoptosis and live cells were detected by flow cytometry DAPI staining, respectively. The expression of cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration-related proteins were detected by Western blot. The expression of miR-544 in RA-FLSs is significantly lower than that in NFLs and E2F2 is increased in RA-FLSs. E2F2 is one of the target genes of miR-544a by miRDB detection and luciferase activity assay. Overexpression of miR-544 inhibits cell proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis by targeting E2F2 in RA-FLSs. MiR-544a regulates synovial cell proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis by targeting E2F2, which is expected to be an attractive target for the development of new drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.