MiR-9 promotes the neural differentiation of mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells via targeting zinc finger protein 521.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that function as endogenous triggers of the RNA interference pathway. Recent studies have shown that microRNA-9 (miR-9) plays a regulatory role in the development and differentiation of stem cells and neural precursor cells. We have found that miR-9 is able to promote the differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), but the mechanisms of miR-9 in this process remains poorly understood. An increasing number of studies have found that zinc-finger protein 521 (Zfp521) expression is high in most immature cells and decreases with differentiation. Zfp521 could induce neural conversion of embryonic stem cells. However, little is known about the expression of Zfp521 and its relationship with miR-9 with respect to the neural differentiation of MSCs. In this study, we found the expression of Zfp521 declined with the neural differentiation of MSCs, and miR-9 could promote the neural differentiation via targeting Zfp521.