Effect of miR-182 on hepatic fibrosis induced by Schistosomiasis japonica by targeting FOXO1 through PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of miR-182 and FOXO1 on S. japonica-induced hepatic fibrosis. Microarray analysis was performed to screen out differential expressed miRNAs and mRNAs. Rat hepatic fibrosis model and human hepatocellular cell line LX-2 were used to study the effect of miR-182 and FOXO1. qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression of miR-182, FOXO1 or other fibrosis markers. The targeting relationship between FOXO1 and miR-182 was verified by luciferase reporter assay. Immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescence staining was conducted to detect FOXO1 or α-SMA in rat hepatic tissues. Cell viability and apoptosis were detected by MTT assay and flow cytometry. The expression of PI3K/AKT pathway-related proteins was detected by Western blot. miR-182 was highly expressed in liver fibrosis samples, and FOXO1 expression was negatively correlated with miR-182 expression. After transfection of miR-182, FOXO1 expression was down-regulated, with the results of LX-2 cells proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction, as well as the aggravation of rat hepatic fibrosis. The expression of p-AKT/AKT and p-S6/S6 was increased, meaning that the PI3K/AKT signal pathway was activated. The results were reversed when treated with Wortmannin (PI3K inhibitor). After transfection of miR-182 inhibitor, FOXO1 expression was up-regulated, LX-2 cell proliferation was inhibited, and apoptosis rate was increased. High-expressed miR-182 and low-expressed FOXO1 promoted proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis on liver fibrosis cells, stimulating the development of S. japonica-induced hepatic fibrosis through feeding back to PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.