Mature microRNA-binding protein QKI suppresses extracellular microRNA let-7b release.

Argonaute (AGO), a component of RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), is a representative RNA-binding protein (RBP) known to bind with mature microRNA (miRNA) and is directly involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing. However, despite the biological significance of miRNA, the roles of other micro RNA-binding proteins (miRBPs) remain unclear in regulation of miRNA loading, dissociation from RISC, and extracellular release. In this study, we perform protein arrays to profile miRBPs and identify 118 RNA-binding proteins directly binding with miRNAs. Among those proteins, RBP quaking (QKI) inhibits extracellular release of mature microRNA let-7b by controlling the loading of let-7b into extracellular vesicles via additional miRBPs such as hnRNPD/AUF1 and hnRNPK. The enhanced extracellular release of let-7b after QKI depletion activates the Toll-like Receptor 7 (TLR7) and promotes the production of proinflammatory cytokines in recipient cells, leading to brain inflammation in mouse cortex. Thus, this study reveals contribution of QKI to the inhibition of brain inflammation via regulation of extracellular let-7b release.