Transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) promotes glomerular hypertrophy and matrix expansion, leading to glomerulosclerosis. MicroRNAs are well suited to promote fibrosis because they can repress gene expression, which negatively regulate the fibrotic process. Recent cellular and animal studies have revealed enhanced expression of microRNA, miR-21, in renal cells in response to TGFβ. Specific miR-2...

MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is an oncomiR and significantly upregulated in a wide range of cancers. It is strongly involved in apoptosis and oncogenesis, since most of its reported targets are tumor suppressors. Recently, miR-21 was found to be correlated with the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and may play an essential role in regulating autoimmune responses. In particular, miR-21 promotes Th17 ...

BACKGROUND MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is up-regulated in tumor tissue of patients with malignant diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Elevated concentrations of miR-21 have also been found in sera or plasma from patients with malignancies, rendering it an interesting candidate as serum/plasma marker for malignancies. Here we correlated serum miR-21 levels with clinical parameters in pa...

TGF-β promotes cell migration and invasion, an attribute that is linked to the pro-metastasis function of this cytokine in late stage cancers. The LIM 1863 colon carcinoma organoid undergoes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in response to TGF-β. This process is markedly accelerated by TNF-α, and we found that the levels of miR-21 and miR-31 were prominently elevated under the synergistic...

The low survival rate of cardiac stem cells (CSCs) in the infarcted myocardium hampers cell therapy for ischemic cardiomyopathy. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) and one of its target proteins, PTEN, contribute to the survival and proliferation of many cell types, but their prosurvival effects in c-kit+ CSC remain unclear. Thus, we hypothesized that miR-21 reduces hydrogen peroxide- (H2O2-) induced apoptos...

Mechanisms of unassisted delivery of RNA therapeutics, including inhibitors of microRNAs, remain poorly understood. We observed that the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SKHEP1 retains productive free uptake of a miR-21 inhibitor (anti-miR-21). Uptake of anti-miR-21, but not a mismatch (MM) control, induces expression of known miR-21 targets (DDAH1, ANKRD46) and leads to dose-dependent inhibi...

BACKGROUND As an important oncogenic miRNA, microRNA-21 (miR-21) is associated with various malignant diseases. However, the precise biological function of miR-21 and its molecular mechanism in hypertrophic scar fibroblast cells has not been fully elucidated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed significant upregulation of miR-21 in hypertrophi...

BACKGROUND MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) is an oncogenic microRNA that regulates the expression of multiple cancer-related target genes. miR-21 has been associated with progression of some types of cancer. Metastasis-associated protein1 expression and loss of E-cadherin expression are correlated with cancer progression and metastasis in many cancer types. In advanced colorectal cancer, the clinical sign...

Insulin resistance (IR) plays a major role in the pathogenesis of abdominal obesity, hypertension, coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis and diabetes. miR-21 and TGF-β/smads is closely related to IR. However, it remained elusive whether metformin improved skeletal muscle insulin resistance (IRSM) by regulating miR-21 and its target signal TGF-β1/smads expression. In this study, high-fat diet ...

Non-small-cell lung cancer has a high mortality rate and poor prognosis. Therefore, novel therapeutic approaches are urgently needed to enhance patient survival rates. In this study, we investigated the effects of miR-21 and EZH2 on the biological behavior of human lung cancer stem cells in vitro. We found increased expression of EZH2 and miR-21 in LCSCs, and miR-21 overexpression increased EZH...