Overexpression of miR-126 inhibits the activation and migration of HSCs through targeting CRK.

Background & Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play essential roles in HSCs activation which contributes to hepatic fibrosis. Our previous miRNA microarray results suggested that miR-126 might be decreased during HSCs activation as other studies. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of miR-126 during HSCs activation.
Methods: In this study, the expression of miR-126 during HSCs activation was measured and confirmed by qRT-PCR. Then, miR-126 expression was restored by transfection of lentivirus vector encoding miR-126. Futhermore, cell proliferation was assayed by the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), cell migration was assayed by transwell assay, and the markers of activation of HSCs, α-SMA and collagen type I, were assayed by qRT-PCR, Western Blotting, Immunostaining and ELISA. Luciferase reporter assay was used to find the target of miR-126, and Western Blotting and Immunostaining was used to validate the target of miR-126. Then, the expression and the role of the target of miR-126 during HSCs activation was further assessed.
Results: The expression of miR-126 was confirmed to be significantly decreased during HSCs activation. Overexpression of miR-126 significantly inhibited HSCs migration but did not affect HSCs proliferation. The expression of α-SMA and collagen type I were both obviously decreased by miR-126 restoration. CRK was found to be the target of miR-126 and overexpression of miR-126 significantly inhibited CRK expression. And it was found that overexpression of CRK also significantly decreased miR-126 expression and promoted HSCs activation.
Conclusions: Our study showed that overexpression of miR-126 significantly inhibited the activation and migration of HSCs through targeting CRK which can also decrease miR-126 expression and promote HSCs activation.