MicroRNA-182 regulates otocyst-derived cell differentiation and targets T-box1 gene

Recently, in vitro and in vivo models have identified that microRNAs (miRNAs), which are extensively expressed in the inner ear, play important roles in inner ear development and function. However, the function of miRNA in vertebrate tissue is not well understood.

The current study used an in vitro model of embryonic mouse inner ear in a stem/progenitor cell culture to demonstrate that: 1) miR-182 is expressed during differentiation of inner ear stem/progenitor cell into a hair cell-like fate, 2) ectopic miR-182 promotes inner ear stem/progenitor cell differentiation into a hair cell-like fate, and 3) the function of miR-182 may be associated with its putative target Tbx1, a transcription factors that have been implicated in inner ear development and hair cell fate.

Our findings suggest that miR-182 could regulate inner ear progenitor cell differentiation and that miRNAs are important regulators of hair cell differentiation, providing new targets for hair cell repair.