Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a common autoimmune disease with high incidence in females. The pathogenesis of SLE is complex, and healing SLE has become a serious challenge for clinical treatment. Aberrant expression of miR-301a-3p involves the progressions of multiple diseases, and some studies have indicated that increased miR-301a-3p could induce the inflammatory injury of some organs. However, the role and molecular mechanism of miR-301a-3p in SLE remain unclear. In this study, the miR-301a-3p levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of the patients with SLE and health subjects were measured with qRT-PCR. The ELISA assay was used to investigate the effect of miR-301a-3p on the levels of inflammatory factors in PBMCs, and flow cytometry assays were used to observe the effect of miR-301a-3p on the levels of CD4+ T cells and Th17 cells in PBMCs. Moreover, TargetScan, dual-luciferase reporter assay, and western blot were used to reveal the downstream targets and regulation mechanism of miR-301a-3p in SLE. The results showed that miR-301a-3p was significantly upregulated in PBMCs of the SLE patients, and increased miR-301a-3p could boost the expression of IL-6, IL-17, and INF-γ in PBMCs and promote the differentiation of Th17 cells. It was found that PELI1 was a target of miR-301a-3p, and PELI1 upregulation could effectively reverse the effect of miR-301a-3p on PBMCs. Besides, this study also found that miR-301a-3p could promote the expression of IRAK1 to involve the progression of SLE via targeting PELI1. In conclusion, this study suggests that increased miR-301a-3p serves as a pathogenic factor in SLE to promote IRAK1-mediated differentiation of Th17 cells via targeting PELI1.