Electroacupuncture-regulated miR-34a-3p/PDCD6 axis promotes post-spinal cord injury recovery. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Electroacupuncture-Regulated miR-34a-3p/PDCD6 Axis Promotes Post-Spinal Cord Injury Recovery in BothandSettings.
J Immunol Res. 2022 ;2022:9329494. Epub 2022 Sep 12. PMID: 36132985
Lili Ma
Electroacupuncture (EA) could enhance neuroregeneration and posttraumatic conditions; however, the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain ambiguous. PDCD6 (programmed cell death 6) is an established proapoptotic regulator which is responsible for motoneuronal death. However, its potential regulatory role in post-spinal cord injury (SCI) regeneration has remained largely unknown. Further investigations are warranted to clarify the involvement of PDCD6 post-SCI recovery and the underlying mechanisms. In our study, based on bioinformatics prediction, we found that miR-34a-3p might be an upstream regulator miRNA for PDCD6, which was subsequently validated through combined utilization of the qRT-PCR, western blot, and dual-luciferase reporter system. Ourresults showed that miR-34a-3p might promote thedifferentiation of neural stem cell (NSC) through suppressing PDCD6 and regulating other important neural markers such as fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1), MAP1/2 (MAP kinase kinases 1/2), myelin basic protein (MBP),III-tubulin Class III-tubulin (III tubulin), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Notably, in the post-SCI rat model, exogenous miR-34a-3p agomir obviously inhibited the expression of PDCD6 at the protein level and promoted neuronal proliferation, motoneurons regeneration, and axonal myelination. The restorations at cellular level might contribute to the improved hindlimbs functions of post-SCI rats, which was manifested by the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor test. The impact of miR-34a-3p was further promoted by EA treatment. Conclusively, this paper argues that a miR-34a-3p/PDCD6 axis might be a candidate therapeutic target for treating SCI and that the therapeutic effect of EA is driven through this pathway.