MiR-98-5p regulates myocardial differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells by targeting TBX5

This study aims to investigate whether miR-98-5p can participate in the myocardial differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) by regulating TBX5.

In this study, we first identified the MSCs that were isolated from rat bone marrow samples. Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect mRNA expressions of cardiac-related genes, including brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), α-actinin, and Islet-1. The binding site of miR-98-5p and TBX5 was detected by dual-luciferase report gene assay. In addition, co-transfection of miR-98-5p mimics and TBX5 overexpression plasmids was conducted to assess whether miR-98-5p could regulate myocardial differentiation by targeting TBX5.

Overexpression of TBX5 or knockdown of miR-98-5p promoted myocardial differentiation of BMSCs. The mRNA expressions of α-actinin and Islet-1 were significantly increased after the miR-98-5p knockdown. Dual-luciferase report gene assay showed that miR-98-5p could bind to TBX5, which was further verified by qRT-PCR. Additionally, TBX5 overexpression reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-98-5p on regulating the mRNA expressions of α-actinin and Islet-1.

MiR-98-5p can inhibit the differentiation of rat MSCs into cardiomyocytes through targeting TBX5.