Repression of versican expression by microRNA-143.

ABSTRACT: Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) retain remarkable plasticity to undergo phenotypic modulation in which the expression of smooth muscle markers is markedly attenuated while conversely expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) is dramatically up-regulated. Myocardin is perhaps the most potent transcription factor for stimulating expression of smooth muscle-specific genes; little is known, however, about whether myocardin can orchestrate ECM expression to act in concert with smooth muscle differentiation program. In this study, we demonstrated myocardin coordinate smooth muscle differentiation by inducing transcription of microRNA-143 (miR-143), which attenuates ECM versican protein expression. Previous studies have shown that versican is a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan of the ECM that is produc

SUBMITTER: Wang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2906317 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature