MiR-29 inhibits bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice.

ABSTRACT: Loss of microRNA-29 (miR-29) is known to be a mechanism of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-mediated pulmonary fibrosis, but the therapeutic implication of miR-29 for pulmonary fibrosis remains unexplored. The present study investigated whether miR-29 had therapeutic potential for lung disease induced by bleomycin in mice. In addition, the signaling mechanisms that regulated miR-29 expression were investigated in vivo and in vitro. We found that miR-29 was a downstream target gene of Smad3 and negatively regulated by TGF-β/Smad signaling in fibrosis. This was evidenced by the findings that mice or pulmonary fibroblasts null for Smad3 were protected against bleomycin or TGF-β1-induced loss of miR-29 along with fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. Interestingly, overexpression of miR-29 could

SUBMITTER: Xiao J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3369297 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature