MiR-7 affects the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysms by up-regulating the expression of ERK and MMP-9 proteins / 中华胸心血管外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effect of miR-7 on the formation of abdominal aortic aneurysm by up-regulating the expression of ERK and MMP-9 proteins.Methods:Download the miRNAs expression profile chip data from the GEO database, the differentially expressed miRNAs were screened out by GEO2R and the correlation between target genes and ERK genes was analyzed; twenty 4-week male C57BL/6J mice with SPF grade were selected and randomly divided into a model group (only 0.6% BAPN solution was given, n=10) and miR-7 group (fed with 0.6% BAPN solution+ injected with 1×10 9 PFU/ml lentivirus containing miR-7 over expression gene via tail vein, n=10), after 7 weeks of continuous feeding, the mice were anesthetized intraperitoneally with chloral hydrate. After the abdominal cavity and thorax were dissected, the abdominal aorta was separated from the left ventricle perfusion with normal saline under physiological pressure and pathological sections were prepared. Masson staining and α-SMA staining were used to evaluate the lesion degree of abdominal aortic vessels in each group; the protein expression levels of p-ERK1/2 and MMP-9 in the diseased abdominal aorta of each group were detected by WB. Results:By screening differential genes, we found that miR-7 was highly expressed in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm, and further analysis revealed that miR-7 was positively correlated with ERK1/2; Masson staining showed that the tumor of abdominal aortic aneurysm in miR -7 group was significantly larger than that in the model group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05), the results of α-SMA histochemical staining showed that the number of α-SMA positive VSMC in miR-7 group was significantly lower than that in the model group, and there was almost no-SMA staining in some VSMC; WB results showed that the highest expressions of P-ERK1/2 and MMP-9 proteins in the abdominal aorta of miR-7 group were significantly higher than that of the model group, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05). Conclusion:MiR-7 accelerated the formation of abdominal aortic aneurysms by up-regulating the expression of ERK and MMP-9 proteins.