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MiR-34a regulates apoptosis in liver cells by targeting the KLF4 gene

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by inhibiting translation or targeting messenger RNA (mRNA) for degradation in a posttranscriptional fashion. In this study, we show that ectopic expression of miR-34a-5p reduces the mRNA and protein levels of Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4). We also demonstrate that miR-34a targets the 3′-untranslated mRNA region of KLF4 and show that overexpression of miR-34a induces a significant level of apoptosis in BNL CL.2 cells exposed to doxorubicin or 10 Gy X-ray. Our data suggest that the effects of miR-34a on apoptosis occur due to the downregulation of KLF4.

Abbreviations

ALDH2:

aldehyde dehydrogenase-2

BCL2:

B-cell lymphoma-2

FCM:

flow cytometry

GAPDH:

glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

HEK:

human embryonic kidney

KLF4:

Krüppel-like factor 4

TBST:

Tris-buffered saline with Tween

UTR:

untranslated region

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Correspondence to Feng Mei Cui or Jun Hou.

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Qiu Chen and Lei Li contributed equally to this work

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Chen, Q., Li, L., Tu, Y. et al. MiR-34a regulates apoptosis in liver cells by targeting the KLF4 gene. Cell Mol Biol Lett 19, 52–64 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-013-0115-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-013-0115-y

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