Inhibitory effect of G2013 molecule as a novel immunomodulatory agent, on miR-155 gene expression in HEK-Blue hTLR4 cell line

Abstract

Lack of regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) expression has been observed in some autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. G2013, as a novel non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with the immunomodulatory property, has been shown the positive effects in multiple sclerosis and anti-ageing experimental models. This research aimed to study the inhibitory effect of G2013 on miR-155 gene expression using HEK-Blue hTLR4 and Null2 cell lines. Total RNA was extracted from the treated and control cells. cDNA was made for miRNA and expression levels of miR-155 were detected by quantitative Real-time PCR using a specific primer together with U6 as the internal reference gene. A non-significant reduction was observed in the gene expression level of miR-155 in the HEK-Blue hTLR4 and Null2 cell lines under the influence of a low dose of G2013. In contrast, adding lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to the mentioned cells led to a significant increase in miR-155 expression, whereas addition of LPS four hours after exposing the cells with G2013 could not increase the expression level of this miRNA (P < 0.05). Collectively, this research showed that G2013, as a novel NSAID with immunomodulatory property is able to significantly decrease the gene expression of miR-155 following stimulation by LPS.