Epigenetics, Stem Cells, and Autophagy: Exploring a Path Involving miRNA.
Francesca BalzanoIlaria CampesiSara CrucianiGiuseppe GarroniEmanuela BelluSilvia Dei GiudiciAndrea AngiusAnnalisa OggianoVincenzo RalloGiampiero CapobiancoSalvatore DessoleCarlo VenturaAndrea MontellaMargherita MaioliPublished in: International journal of molecular sciences (2019)
MiRNAs, a small family of non-coding RNA, are now emerging as regulators of stem cell pluripotency, differentiation, and autophagy, thus controlling stem cell behavior. Stem cells are undifferentiated elements capable to acquire specific phenotype under different kind of stimuli, being a main tool for regenerative medicine. Within this context, we have previously shown that stem cells isolated from Wharton jelly multipotent stem cells (WJ-MSCs) exhibit gender differences in the expression of the stemness related gene OCT4 and the epigenetic modulator gene DNA-Methyltransferase (DNMT1). Here, we further analyze this gender difference, evaluating adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation potential, autophagic process, and expression of miR-145, miR-148a, and miR-185 in WJ-MSCs derived from males and females. These miRNAs were selected since they are involved in OCT4 and DNMT1 gene expression, and in stem cell differentiation. Our results indicate a difference in the regulatory circuit involving miR-148a/DNMT1/OCT4 autophagy in male WJ-MSCs as compared to female cells. Moreover, no difference was detected in the expression of the two-differentiation regulating miRNA (miR-145 and miR-185). Taken together, our results highlight a different behavior of WJ-MSCs from males and females, disclosing the chance to better understand cellular processes as autophagy and stemness, usable for future clinical applications.
Keyphrases
- stem cells
- long non coding rna
- cell proliferation
- poor prognosis
- mesenchymal stem cells
- dna methylation
- long noncoding rna
- cell death
- gene expression
- umbilical cord
- cell therapy
- signaling pathway
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- oxidative stress
- optical coherence tomography
- genome wide
- transcription factor
- binding protein
- mental health
- epithelial mesenchymal transition
- cell cycle arrest
- bone marrow
- climate change
- cell free
- genome wide identification
- nucleic acid