Pulmonary AngII promotes LPS-induced lung inflammation by regulating microRNA-143

Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a terminal carboxypeptidase, which cleaves single terminal residues from several bioactive peptides such as Angiotensin II (AngII). Many investigations indicated that ACE2 functions in angiotensin system and plays a crucial role in inflammatory lung diseases. However, the mechanism behind the involvement of ACE2 in inflammatory lung disease has not been fully elucidated. In this study, BEAS-2B cells were treated with gradient concentration of AngII and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammatory condition. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to detect the level of ACE2 and miR-143-3p. Western blotting and immunofluorescence assays were performed to measure the expression of related proteins. The levels of inflammatory cytokines and cell viability were respectively measured by ELISA and CCK-8 kits. And ACE2 activity was detected by corresponding commercial kits. Bioinformatics methods were employed to predict the potential microRNA targeting ACE2, which was then confirmed by dual luciferase reporter assay. The results showed that ACE2 expression and activity were time-dependently decreased in LPS group for the first 12 h, after which this tendency was reversed. AngII addition enhanced these effects, compared with LPS group. Additionally, the lowest ACE2 activity level was found in both LPS and AngII + LPS groups at 6 h. The number of nuclei and the ACE2 expression were decreased in LPS groups at 6 h and further reduced by addition of AngII, detected by immunofluorescence. Moreover, ACE2 was validated to be a direct target of miR-143-3p. Pretreatment of AngII and LPS regulated the activity of ACE2, increased the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and cell apoptosis and regulated the expression of Bax, Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase-3 in BEAS-2B cells, which could be reversed by transfecting miR-143-3p inhibitor. The results collectively suggest that AngII promotes LPS-induced inflammation by regulating miR-143-3p in BEAS-2B cells. Therefore, miR-143-3p is considered a potential molecular target for the treatment of lung inflammation.