CircRNA-011235 Counteracts The Deleterious Effect of Irradiation Treatment on Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Regulating The miR-741-3p/CDK6 Pathway

Xianhui Wen; Hebin Xie; Rong Gui; Xinmin Nie; Dongyong Shan; Rong Huang; Hongyu Deng; Junhua Zhang

doi:10.22074/cellj.2022.7697

CircRNA-011235 Counteracts The Deleterious Effect of Irradiation Treatment on Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Regulating The miR-741-3p/CDK6 Pathway

Cell J. 2022 Jan;24(1):15-21. doi: 10.22074/cellj.2022.7697.

Authors

Xianhui Wen¹, Hebin Xie², Rong Gui¹, Xinmin Nie³, Dongyong Shan⁴, Rong Huang¹, Hongyu Deng⁴, Junhua Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Blood Transfusion, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
² Research and Teaching Department, Changsha Central Hospital, Changsha, Hunan, China.
³ The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁴ Hunan Cancer Hospital and The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁵ Department of Blood Transfusion, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China. Email: jhzhangjunhua@163.com.

Abstract

Objective: The present work was aimed at uncovering the effect of circRNA-011235 (circ-011235) on irradiation-induced bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) injury and its regulatory mechanism, with a view to establish a scientific basis for its possible medical applications.

Materials and methods: In this experimental study, after irradiation with different doses (0, 2, 4, 6 GY), the relative expression levels of circ-011235, miR-741-3p, and cyclin-dependent kinases 6 (CDK6) were detected in the BMSCs, using the real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The overexpression effects of circ-011235 and CDK6 on the cell proliferation in irradiation-treated BMSCs were measured by the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) assay. And also, their effects on the cell cycle were evaluated by flow cytometry. RT-qPCR and immunoblotting were performed to detect the effects of pcDNA-circ-011235 and pcDNA-CDK6 on the expression of cyclin D1 and cyclindependent kinases 4 (CDK6) at the gene and protein levels, respectively.

Results: Irradiation treatment elevated the expression of circ-011235 and CDK6, but reduced miR-741-3p expression in the BMSCs with a dose-dependent effect. The proliferation of BMSCs was significantly inhibited in the irradiation treatment group, while the overexpression of circ-011235 and CDK6 effectively attenuated this inhibition. Also, overexpression of circ-011235 and CDK6 elevated the expression of cyclin D1 in irradiation-treated BMSCs, but had no significant effect on the CDK4 expression.

Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that circ-011235 up-regulated the expression of cyclin D1 via miR-741-3p/ CDK6 signal pathway, thereby promoting cell cycle progression and proliferation of irradiation-treated BMSCs. This finding suggested circ-011235/ miR-741-3p/CDK6 pathway exerted a protective role in the response to irradiation and will be a potential new target for future research on the mechanism involved in the resistance of BMSCs to radiation.

Keywords: Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cell; CDK6; Cell Cycle; Irradiation.