Medpor regulates osteoblast's microRNAs

Porous polyethylene (PP or Medpor) is an alloplastic material worldwide used for craniofacial reconstruction. Although several clinical studies are available, there is a lack as regard the genetic effects. Because PP is always fixed on bone and the mechanism by which PP acts on osteoblasts is unknown, we therefore attempted to address this question by using microRNA microarray techniques to investigate the translation regulation in osteoblasts exposed to PP. The miRNA oligonucleotide microarray provides a novel method to carry out genome-wide microRNA profiling in human samples. By using miRNA microarrays containing 329 probe designed from Human miRNA sequence, we identified in osteoblast-like cells line (MG-63) cultured with Medpor (Porex Corporation, Fairburn, Georgia, USA) several miRNA which expression is significantly modified. We identified 16 up-regulated miRNA (i.e. mir-337, mir-515-3p, mir-377, mir-153, mir-367, mir-152, let-7b, mir-92, mir-155, mir-424, mir-148b, mir-368, mir-18b, mir-520d, mir-20b, mir-128a) and 2 down-regulated miRNA (i.e. mir-143, mir-32). The data reported are, to our knowledge, the first study on translation regulation in osteoblasts exposed to PP. They can be relevant to better understand the molecular mechanism of bone regeneration and as a model for comparing other materials with similar clinical effects.