MicroRNA-4530 suppresses cell proliferation and induces apoptosis by targeting RASA1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are a class of endogenous and non-coding RNAs that are present in eukaryotes. In previous studies, miRNAs have been revealed to have an important role in cell growth and apoptosis. In the present study, the function of a novel and rarely studied miRNA, miR-4530, was investigated in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The expression level of miR-4530 in HUVECs was investigated using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction following transfection with miR-4530 precursor plasmids, anti-miR-4530 plasmids and empty vector plasmids. Following this, it was revealed that overexpression of miR-4530 can suppress cell proliferation and enhance cell apoptosis. TargetScan analysis suggested that Ras p21 protein activator 1 (RASA1) is a target gene of miR-4530. The results of a dual-luciferase reporter assay also suggested that miR-4530 targets RASA1. Furthermore, the results of dual-luciferase reporter assay suggested that miR-4530 enhanced luciferase activity of the wild-type reporter, but not the mutant RASA1 reporter activity, thus suggesting that miR-4530 enhances the expression of RASA1. In addition, western blot analysis demonstrated that the protein expression level of RASA1 was enhanced following upregulation of miR-4530. The exact mechanism underlying this process has not yet been determined and requires further investigation. In addition, a RASA1 overexpression plasmid vector was transfected into HUVECs. The results suggest that overexpression of RASA1 suppresses cell growth and promotes apoptosis, which was in agreement with the results regarding the overexpression of miR-4530. To investigate how miRNA-4530 affects cellular function, numerous proteins associated with the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT serine/threonine kinase pathways were investigated via western blot analysis. The results suggested that miRNA-4530 suppresses cell proliferation and enhances apoptosis by targeting RASA1 via the ERK/MAPK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways.