Effects of microRNA-146a on the proliferation and apoptosis of human osteoarthritis chondrocytes by targeting through the NF-κB signalling pathway.

The present study aims to investigate the effects of on the proliferation and apoptosis of human osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes by targeting tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) through nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signalling pathway. Human normal and OA chondrocytes were selected and divided into the normal group, blank group, negative control (NC) group, mimics group, inhibitors, inhibitor + si-TRAF6 group and si-TRAF6 group. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was applied to detect the expressions of , mRNA and mRNA. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expressions of TRAF6 and NF-κB. CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis. Compared with normal chondrocytes, the expression of decreased, while the mRNA and protein expressions of TRAF6 and NF-κB increased in OA chondrocytes. OA chondrocytes had a lower proliferation rate and a higher apoptosis rate than the normal chondrocytes. Compared with the blank, NC and si-TRAF6 groups, the expression of increased in the mimics group, but decreased in the inhibitors and inhibitor + si-TRAF6 groups. Compared with the blank, NC and inhibitor + si-TRAF6 groups, the mRNA and protein expressions of TRAF6 and NF-κB decreased, cell proliferation rate increased and cell apoptosis rate decreased in the mimics and si-TRAF6 groups, while opposite trends were observed in the inhibitors group. Our study suggests that could promote proliferation and inhibit apoptosis of OA chondrocytes by inhibiting TRAF6 expression and suppressing the activation of NF-κB signalling pathway.