Hypoxia inducible factor-1 mediates expression of miR-322: potential role in proliferation and migration of pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells

There is growing evidence that microRNAs play important roles in cellular responses to hypoxia and in pulmonary hypertensive vascular remodeling, but the exact molecular mechanisms involved are not fully elucidated. In this study, we identified miR-322 as one of the microRNAs induced in lungs of chronically hypoxic mice and rats. The expression of miR-322 was also upregulated in primary cultured rat pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMC) in response to hypoxia. We demonstrated that HIF-1α, but not HIF-2α, transcriptionally upregulates the expression of miR-322 in hypoxia. Furthermore, miR-322 facilitated the accumulation of HIF-1α in the nucleus and promoted hypoxia-induced cell proliferation and migration. Direct targeting BMPR1a and smad5 by miR-322 was demonstrated in PASMCs suggesting that downregulation of BMP-Smad signaling pathway may be mediating the hypoxia-induced PASMC proliferation and migration. Our study implicates miR-322 in the hypoxic proliferative response of PASMCs suggesting that it may be playing a role in pulmonary vascular remodeling associated with pulmonary hypertension.