miR-188-5p inhibits apoptosis of neuronal cells during oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced stroke by suppressing PTEN.

The miRNAs and mRNAs are found to play a crucial role in modulating different diseases including stroke, according to the recent evidence. The current study is aimed at assessing the functional role played by miR-188-5p in the regulation of cell apoptosis and viability in OGD-induced human neural cell line HNC. With the help of RT-qPCR, the authors determined miR-188-5p as well as its putative target PTEN among OGD-treated cells in different treatment times. The cell viability was assessed through CCK-8 assay while the cell transfection either upregulated or may have silenced the genes. Both Western Blot as well as RT-qPCR found the proliferation biomarkers such as Ki87 and PCNA in addition to apoptosis biomarkers such as caspase-8 and caspase-3. The luciferase activity was tracked by conducting luciferase assay. The researchers observed an elevation in the expression of miR-188-5p while the PTEN got downregulated in Human Neural Cell line HNC with increase in the time span. The expressions of miR-188-5p and PTEN got increased with increasing OGD treatment time while the Luciferase reassured the binding site. The cell viability was suppressed by the overexpression of miR-188-5p which further inhibited the apoptosis biomarkers too. Meanwhile, it was understood that the results could be reversed to some extent with the inhibition of PTEN. The study findings from in vitro investigations yielded promising results and provided excellent insights about the fundamental molecular mechanisms of miR-188-5p involved in stroke via PTEN. This could be considered as a potential therapeutic axis among stroke patients in the near future.