miR-96-5p regulates wound healing by targeting BNIP3/FAK pathway.

Cutaneous wound healing is a highly orchestrated basic biological process and one of the key processes in restoring skin integrity. The role of microRNAs (miRNAs) during this process has raised numerous attention and is poorly explored. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential function of BCL2 interacting protein (BNIP3) and its target miRNA, miR-96-5p, in cutaneous wound healing. The results demonstrated that BNIP3 was significantly increased and miR-96-5p was obviously decreased during wound healing. Overexpression of BNIP3 significantly increased, while inhibition of BNIP3 decreased cell proliferation and migration of human primary keratinocytes. miR-96-5p was predicted to be a target miRNA for BNIP3 and luciferase reporter assay confirmed that miR-96-5p directly targeted the 3'-untranslated region of BNIP3. Moreover, miR-96-5p overexpression significantly decreased, while miR-96-5p inhibition dramatically increased BNIP3 protein expression and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) pathway activation. Furthermore, miR-96-5p inhibited cell proliferation and migration of human primary keratinocytes. Overall, our findings suggest that miR-96-5p might be critical in the regulation of wound healing by mediating BNIP3 and FAK pathway.