Abstract
High plasma LDL cholesterol (LDL-c) concentration is a major risk factor for atherosclerosis. Hepatic LDL receptor (LDLR) regulates LDL metabolism, and thereby plasma LDL-c concentration. Recently, we have identified the (pro)renin receptor [(P)RR] as a novel regulator of LDL metabolism, which regulates LDLR degradation and hence its protein abundance and activity. In silico analysis suggests that the (P)RR is a target of miR-148a. In this study we determined whether miR-148a could regulate LDL metabolism by regulating (P)RR expression in HepG2 and Huh7 cells. We found that miR-148a suppressed (P)RR expression by binding to the 3’-untranslated regions (3’-UTR) of the (P)RR mRNA. Mutating the binding sites for miR-148a in the 3’-UTR of (P)RR mRNA completely abolished the inhibitory effects of miR-148a on (P)RR expression. In line with our recent findings, reduced (P)RR expression resulted in decreased cellular LDL uptake, likely as a consequence of decreased LDLR protein abundance. Overexpressing the (P)RR prevented miR-148a-induced reduction in LDLR abundance and cellular LDL uptake. Our study supports a new concept that miR-148a is a regulator of (P)RR expression. By reducing (P)RR abundance, miR-148a decreases LDLR protein abundance and consequently cellular LDL uptake.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e0225356 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81870605, 81800383, 81500667) and Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Council (grant no. JCYJ20160307160819191). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General