microRNA-451a prevents activation of matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 in human cardiomyocytes during pathological stress stimulation.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are important for cardiac remodeling. Recently, microRNA (miR)-451a has been found to inhibit the expression of both MMP-2 and MMP-9 in human malignancies, but its role in cardiomyocytes has not been explored. We hypothesized that miR-451a modulates MMP-2 and MMP-9 levels in human cardiomyocytes. The role of miR-451a on regulation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was evaluated in two separate pathological models using Cor.4U human inducible pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs): 1) endothelin-1 (ET-1), and 2) 48-h hypoxia (1% O2). Both models were transfected with synthetic miR-451a mimics or scramble control. Expression of both mRNA and miR was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and protein activity by (MMP-2/9) activity assay. Bioinformatic analyses were performed using Targetscan 7.1 and STRING 10.5. hiPS-CMs stimulated by hypoxia increased both MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression levels compared with normoxia (P < 0.05), whereas ET-1 stimulation only increased the MMP-9 level compared with vehicle controls (P < 0.05). miR-451a mimics prevented the increase of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression in both models. Protein activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was confirmed to be lower following treatment with miR-451a mimic compared with scramble-controls. Six of 28 predicted gene transcripts of miR-451a were linked to MMP-2 and MMP-9; Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was the only predicted target of miR-451a that was increased by ET-1 and hypoxia and reduced following miR-451a mimic transfection. miR-451a prevent the increase of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in human cardiomyocytes during pathological stress. The modulation by miR-451a on MMP-2 and MMP-9 is caused by MIF.