miRNA-16-5p inhibits the apoptosis of high glucose-induced pancreatic β cells via targeting of CXCL10: potential biomarkers in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

INTRODUCTION

We aimed to elucidate the relationship between CXC chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) and miR-16-5p, and their functions on the biological behaviour of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The GSE72492 dataset from the GEO database was used to analyse gene expression. We discovered that CXCL10 was highly expressed in T1DM patients. The up-stream miRNA was predicted by Targetscan website. Low glucose (2.8 mmol/L) and high glucose (HG, 16.7 mmol/L) were utilised to treat β-TC-tet (pancreaticβ cell) cells to form the model. The direct interaction between miR-16-5p and CXCL10 was verified by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting analyses were used to detect RNA and protein expression. CCK8 and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis.

RESULTS

We discovered that CXCL10 was highly expressed in T1DM patients. MiR-16-5p, which was lowly expressed in T1DM patients, was verified the upstream regulatory miRNA of CXCL10. The facilitating influence of miR-16-5p up-regulation on the proliferation of HG-induced β-TC-tet cells was reversed by CXCL10 over-expression, while the knockdown results were opposite. More importantly, the restraining impact of miR-16-5p high expression on the apoptosis of HG-induced β-TC-tet cells was accelerated by CXCL10 over-expression. Correspondingly, the level of Bcl-2 was enhanced while the levels of Bax and Cleaved Caspase-3 were lowered by miR-16-5p mimic, which were reversed by CXCL10 over-expression in HG-treated β-TC-tet cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data offered evidence that miR-16-5p implicated in T1DM cell proliferation and apoptosis through targeting CXCL10, which might provide novel therapeutic information for T1DM.