MiR-29b-3p promotes particulate matter-induced inflammatory responses by regulating the C1QTNF6/AMPK pathway

Inflammatory responses are considered to be the critical mechanism underlying particulate matter (PM)-induced development and exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases. MiR-29b-3p has been found to participate in various biological processes, but its role in PM-induced inflammatory responses was previously unknown. Here, we constructed a miRNA PCR array to find that miR-29b-3p was the most highly expressed in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) exposed to PM. MiR-29b-3p promoted PM-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8) expression via inhibiting the AMPK signaling pathway in HBECs. RNA sequencing and luciferase reporter assay identified that miR-29b-3p targeted complement C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein 6 (C1QTNF6), a protein that protected from PM-induced inflammatory responses via activating the AMPK signaling pathway. In vivo, miR-29b-3p antagomirs delivered via the tail vein prior to PM exposure significantly counteracted PM-induced miR-29b-3p upregulation and C1QTNF6 downregulation in lung tissues. Furthermore, miR-29b-3p inhibition alleviated inflammatory cells infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion in the lung of PM-exposed mice. These findings firstly revealed that miR-29b-3p acted as a novel modulator of PM-induced inflammatory responses by targeting the C1QTNF6/AMPK signaling pathway, which contributes to a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying adverse PM-induced respiratory health effects.