Implication of miR-612 and miR-1976 in the regulation of TP53 and CD40 and their relationship in the response to specific weight-loss diets

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 13; no. 8; p. e0201217
• Main Authors: Garcia-Lacarte, Marcos, Martinez, J. Alfredo, Zulet, M. Angeles, Milagro, Fermin I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 08.08.2018; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: 3' Untranslated regions; Adipocytes; Algorithms; Arrays; Atherosclerosis; Biology and life sciences; Biomarkers; Biomedical research; Blood; Blood cells; Body weight; Body weight loss; CD40 antigen; Cellular proteins; Density; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diet; DNA; Erythrocytes; Expression vectors; Food science; Gastrointestinal surgery; Gene expression; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Hybridization; Leukocytes; Ligands; Mathematical analysis; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolic syndrome; Methylation; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs; miRNA; Nutrition research; Obesity; p53 Protein; Physiology; Proteins; Reducing diets; Research and Analysis Methods; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Studies; Weight control; White blood cells; United States > US; Spain
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201217

Non-coding RNAs (i.e., miRNAs) play a role in the development of obesity and related comorbidities and the regulation of body weight. To identify candidate miRNA biomarkers throughout omics approaches in order to predict the response to specific weight-loss dietary treatments. Genomic DNA and cDNA isolated from white blood cells of a subset from the RESMENA nutritional intervention study (Low-responders (LR) vs High-responders (HR)) was hybridized in Infinium Human Methylation450 BeadChip and in Illumina Human HT-12 v4 gene expression BeadChips arrays respectively. A bioinformatic prediction of putative target sites of selected miRNAs was performed by applying miRBase algorithms. HEK-293T cells were co-transfected with expression vectors containing the 3'-UTR of candidate genes to validate the binding of miRNAs to its target sites. 134 miRNAs were differentially methylated between HR and LR in the methylation array, whereas 44 miRNAs were differentially expressed between both groups in the expression array. Specifically, miR-1237, miR-1976, miR-642, miR-636, miR-612 and miR-193B were simultaneously hypomethylated and overexpressed in HR. miR-612 and miR-1976 showed greatest differences in methylation and expression levels, respectively. The bioinformatic prediction revealed that TP53 was a putative target gene of miR-612 and CD40 of miR-1976. Moreover, TP53 was downregulated in the expression array when comparing HR vs LR expression levels adjusted by sex, diet, age and baseline weight, and CD40 showed a statistical trend. Furthermore, gene expression levels of TP53 and CD40 in white blood cells, when measured by qPCR, were also downregulated in HR. Finally, miR-612 and miR-1976 potently repressed TP53 and CD40 respectively by targeting its 3'-UTR regions. miR-612 and miR-1976 levels could be prospective biomarkers of response to specific weight-loss diets and might regulate the gene expression of TP53 and CD40.