MiR-23a inhibited IL-17-mediated proinflammatory mediators expression via targeting IKK alpha in articular chondrocytes

摘要

The inflammatory cytokine interleukin 17 (IL-17) is an important contributor of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) chronicity. Although several microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to regulate RA pathogenesis, the function of miRNAs in articular chondrocytes during rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis is unclear. Here we showed that miR-23a was downregulated in articular cartilage tissues from rheumatoid arthritis patients. MiR-23a suppressed IL-17 inflammatory cytokine-induced NF-kappa B activation and several proinflammatory mediators expression, such as cytokine IL-6, chemokine MCP-1, and matrix metalloproteinase MMP-3 in articular chondrocytes. Furthermore, we found that the miR-23a expression was inversely correlated with IKK alpha expression in articular cartilage tissues from rheumatoid arthritis patients. We identified that IKK alpha was the direct target of miR-23a and miR-23a inhibited IL-17-mediated proinflammatory mediators expression via targeting the IKK alpha in primary articular chondrocytes. Together, our study provides the first evidence of a role for miR-23a regulated IL-17 mediated proinflammatory mediators expression in rheumatoid arthritis by directly targeting IKK alpha. Our findings provide novel evidence that may be useful for future studies exploring therapeutic approaches for rheumatoid arthritis by targeting miR-23a. Thus, miR-23a may be a common therapeutic target for rheumatoid arthritis. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.