MiR-152-5p suppresses osteogenic differentiation of mandible mesenchymal stem cells by regulating ATG14-mediated autophagy

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis affects the mandible resulting in bone loss. Though impairments are not life threatening, they affect a person's quality-of-life particularly vulnerable elderly. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are novel regulatory factors that play an important role in regulating bone metabolism. Autophagy is evolutionarily conserved intracellular self-degradation process and is vital in the maintenance of both miRNA and bone homeostasis. However, the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of miRNA regulating osteoporosis remains unclear. METHODS: In the study, we established a rat osteoporosis model induced by ovariectomy (OVX) and isolated mesenchymal stem cells from mandible (MMSCs-M). Several miRNAs were identified to regulate osteoporosis in some studies. qRT-PCR was applied to examine the expression of miRNA, autophagy and osteogenic differentiation-related genes. Western blotting assays were performed to detect the expression of autophagy and osteogenic differentiation proteins. Immunofluorescence and transmission electron microscope were used to verify the autophagy activity. Transfecting technology was used to enhance or suppress the expression of miR-152-5p which enable us to observe the relationship between miR-152-5p, autophagy and osteogenic differentiation. Additionally, the measurement of reactive oxygen species was used to investigate the mechanism of autophagy affecting osteogenic differentiation. RESULTS: We found an upregulated expression of miR-152-5p in MMSCs-M in OVX group. Downregulated autophagy-related gene, proteins and autophagosome were detected in vitro of OVX group compared with sham group. Moreover, downregulation of miR-152-5p promoted osteogenic differentiation of MMSCs-M as well as enhanced autophagy-related proteins in OVX group. Conversely, overexpression of miR-152-5p showed opposite effect in sham group. Meanwhile, we found Atg14 (autophagy-related protein homolog 14) was identified to be a direct target of miR-152-5p theoretically and functionally. In other words, we confirmed inhibition of miR-152-5p promoted the osteogenic differentiation via promoting ATG14-mediated autophagy. Furthermore, miR-152-5p/ATG14-mediated autophagy regulated osteogenic differentiation by reducing the endogenous ROS accumulation and maintaining cellular redox homeostasis. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that miR-152-5p is the first identified to regulate osteogenic differentiation by directly targeting autophagy-related protein ATG14 and regulating oxidative stress and therapeutic inhibition of miR-152-5p may be an efficient anabolic strategy for osteoporosis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-022-03018-4.