The present study aimed to explore the expression of microribonucleic acid (microRNA) (miR)-205 in bone tissues and serum of elderly female patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) complicated with osteoporosis (OP), and to investigate the effect of miR-205 on osteogenesis/adipogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and its mechanism in elderly female mice with T2DM + OP.

ObjectiveMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well-recognized for their abilities to regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally in plants and animals. Recently, miRNA-messenger RNA (mRNA) regulatory relationships have been confirmed during biological processes, including osteogenic differentiation. This study aimed to find out more candidate miRNA-mRNA pairs involved in the osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells.MethodsAn MC3T3-E1-based microarray dataset (accessioned as GSE46400) downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus included MC3T3-E1 cells with or without 14-day osteoblast differentiation osteoblast induction. Multiple miRNA-mRNA prediction databases were searched by differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to obtain pairs of a miRNA-DEG regulatory network. The MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured and incubated in the osteogenic differentiation medium for 14 days. The expressions of candidate miRNAs and mRNAs were determined by real-time quantitative PCR(RT-qPCR) in MC3T3-E1 cells. The miRNA-mRNA interactions were verified by dual-luciferase reporter gene assays and experiments using mimics miRNA or their inhibitors.ResultsWe identified 715 upregulated DEGs and 603 downregulated DEGs between MC3T3-E1 cells with and without osteoblast induction by analyzing the raw data of the GSE46400 dataset. There were 7 overlapped miRNA-mRNA pairs identified during osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells, including mmu-miR-204-5p-Arhgap11a, mmu-miR-211-5p-Arhgap11a, mmu-miR-24-3p-H2afx, mmu-miR-3470b-Chek2, mmu-miR-3470b-Dlgap5, mmu-miR-466b-3p-Chek1, and mmu-miR-466c-3p-Chek1. The Arhgap11a, H2afx, Chek2, Dlgap5, and Chek1 were hub genes downregulated in MC3T3-E1 cells after osteogenic differentiation, verified by RT-qPCR results. The RT-qPCR also determined declined expressions of miR-204-5p and miR-24-3p concomitant with elevated expressions of miR-211-5p, miR-3470b, miR-466b-3p, and miR-466c-3p in the MC3T3-E1 cells, with osteoblast induction compared with undifferentiated MC3T3-E1 cells. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assays demonstrated Arhgap11a as the target of miR-211-5p. MiR-211-5p upregulation by its mimic increased Arhgap11a expression in MC3T3-E1 cells.ConclusionOur study characterizes miR-211-5p targeting Arhgap11a promotes the osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells, which provides novel targets to promote the osteogenesis process during bone repair.