MicroRNA-15b-5p targets ERK1 to regulate proliferation and apoptosis in rat PC12 cells

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in multiple biological processes, and many miRNAs have been shown to regulate cell proliferation and apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-15b-5p in cell proliferation and apoptosis in PC12 cells. We found that overexpression of miR-15b-5p could decrease cell proliferation and induce apoptosis and cytotoxic activities in PC12 cells. Bioinformatics analysis and luciferase activities assays showed that miR-15b-5p might target extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1) by binding to its 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR). Moreover, we also found that overexpression of ERK1 could attenuate the effects of miR-15b-5p in PC12 cells. Finally, our results suggest that miR-15b-5p might inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in PC12 cells by targeting ERK1.