Journal of Biological Chemistry
Volume 279, Issue 50, 10 December 2004, Pages 52361-52365
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Molecular Basis of Cell and Developmental Biology
MicroRNA-143 Regulates Adipocyte Differentiation*

https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.C400438200Get rights and content
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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously expressed 20-24 nucleotide RNAs thought to repress protein translation through binding to a target mRNA (1, 2, 3). Only a few of the more than 250 predicted human miRNAs have been assigned any biological function. In an effort to uncover miRNAs important during adipocyte differentiation, antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) targeting 86 human miRNAs were transfected into cultured human pre-adipocytes, and their ability to modulate adipocyte differentiation was evaluated. Expression of 254 miRNAs in differentiating adipocytes was also examined on a miRNA microarray. Here we report that the combination of expression data and functional assay results identified a role for miR-143 in adipocyte differentiation. miR-143 levels increased in differentiating adipocytes, and inhibition of miR-143 effectively inhibited adipocyte differentiation. In addition, protein levels of the proposed miR-143 target ERK5 (4) were higher in ASO-treated adipocytes. These results demonstrate that miR-143 is involved in adipocyte differentiation and may act through target gene ERK5.

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*

The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Methods, Table S1, and Fig. S1.