Exposure to ozone impacted Th1/Th2 imbalance of CD 4+ T cells and apoptosis of ASMCs underlying asthmatic progression by activating lncRNA PVT1-miR-15a-5p/miR-29c-3p signaling

This investigation attempted to elucidate whether lncRNA PVT1-led miRNA axes participated in aggravating ozone-triggered asthma progression. One hundred and sixty-eight BALB/c mice were evenly divided into saline+air group, ovalbumin+air group, saline+ozone group and ovalbumin+ozone group. Correlations were evaluated between PVT1 expression and airway smooth muscle function/inflammatory cytokine release among the mice models. Furthermore, pcDNA3.1-PVT1 and si-PVT1 were, respectively, transfected into CD T cells and airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs), and activities of the cells were observed. Ultimately, a cohort of asthma patients was recruited to estimate the diagnostic performance of PVT1. It was demonstrated that mice of ovalbumin+ozone group were associated with higher PVT1 expression, thicker trachea/airway smooth muscle and smaller ratio of Th1/Th2-like cytokines than mice of ovalbumin+air group and saline+ozone group (