TY - JOUR UR - https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2859 DO - 10.7717/peerj.2859 TI - miR-21 increases c-kit+ cardiac stem cell proliferation in vitro through PTEN/PI3K/Akt signaling AU - Shi,Bei AU - Deng,Wenwen AU - Long,Xianping AU - Zhao,Ranzun AU - Wang,Yan AU - Chen,Wenming AU - Xu,Guanxue AU - Sheng,Jin AU - Wang,Dongmei AU - Cao,Song A2 - Piaggio,Giulia DA - 2017/01/05 PY - 2017 KW - c-kit+ cardiac stem cell KW - microRNA-21 KW - Proliferation KW - PTEN KW - PI3K-Akt pathway KW - Ischemic cardiomyopathy AB - The low survival rate of cardiac stem cells (CSCs) in the ischemic myocardium is one of the obstacles in ischemic cardiomyopathy cell therapy. The MicroRNA (miR)-21 and one of its target protein, the tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN), contributes to the proliferation of many kinds of tissues and cell types. It is reported that miR-21 promotes proliferation through PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway, but its effects on c-kit+ CSC remain unclear. The authors hypothesized that miR-21 promotes the proliferation in c-kit+ CSC, and evaluated the involvement of PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway in vitro. miR-21 up-regulation with miR-21 efficiently mimics accelerated cell viability and proliferation in c-kit+ CSC, which was evidenced by the CCK-8, EdU and cell cycle analyses. In addition, the over-expression of miR-21 in c-kit+ CSCs notably down-regulated the protein expression of PTEN although the mRNA level of PTEN showed little change. Gain-of-function of miR-21 also increased the phosphor-Akt (p-Akt) level. Phen, the selective inhibitor of PTEN, reproduced the pro-proliferation effects of miR-21, while PI3K inhibitor, LY294002, totally attenuated the pro-survival effect of miR-21. These results indicate that miR-21 is efficient in promoting proliferation in c-kit+ CSCs, which is contributed by the PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway. miR-21 holds the potential to facilitate CSC therapy in ischemic myocardium. VL - 5 SP - e2859 T2 - PeerJ JO - PeerJ J2 - PeerJ SN - 2167-8359 ER -