Identification and Functional Verification of MicroRNA-16 Family Targeting Intestinal Divalent Metal Transporter 1 (DMT1) in vitro and in vivo

作者：Shuxia Jiang, Shihui Guo, Huifang Li, Yingdong Ni, Wenqiang Ma, Ruqian Zhao · 发表于：Frontiers in Physiology · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.3389/fphys.2019.00819 · 被引用次数：19 · 研究领域：MicroRNA in disease regulation、Circular RNAs in diseases、Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research

Divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) is a key transporter of iron uptake and delivering in human and animals. However, post-transcriptional regulation of DMT1 is poorly understood. In this study, bioinformatic algorithms (TargetScan, PITA, miRanda and miRDB) were applied to predict, screen, analyze and obtain microRNA-16 family members (miR-16, miR-195, miR-497, and miR-15b) targeting DMT1, seed sequence and their binding sites within DMT1 3' untranslated region (3’ UTR) region. As demonstrated by dual-luciferase reporter assays, luciferase activity of DMT1 3’ UTR reporter was impaired/enhanced when microRNA-16 family member over-expression plasmid/its inhibitor was transfected to HCT116 cells. Corroboratively, co-transfection of microRNA-16 family member over-expression plasmid and DMT1 3’ UTR mutant reporter repressed the luciferase activity in HCT116 cells. In addition, over-expression microRNA-16 family member augmented its expression and diminished DMT1 protein expression in HCT116 cells. Interestingly, tail vein injection of miR-16 assay revealed reduced plasma iron levels, higher miR-16 expression and lower DMT1 protein expression in the duodenum of mice. Taken together, we provide evidence that microRNA-16 family (miR-16, miR-195, miR-497, and miR-15b) is confirmed to repress intestinal DMT1 expression in vitro and in vivo, which will give valuable insight into post-transcriptional regulation of DMT1.