MicroRNA‑216a‑5p in lipopolysaccharide‑induced endothelial injury

MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are a type of non-coding RNA that are closely associated with disease development and treatment. The present study aimed to investigate the role of miR-216a-5p in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endothelial injury in vitro. The EdU assay was performed to detect EdU-positive cells, while flow cytometric analysis was performed to detect apoptotic cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analyses were performed to detect the expression levels of miR-216a-5p, Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), MyD88 and nuclear factor (NF)-[kappa]B(p65) and phosphorylated (p)-NF-[kappa]B(p65). Furthermore, p-NF-[kappa]B(p65) nuclear expression level was detected via cellular immunofluorescence. The dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed to verify the association between miR-216a-5p and TLR4. The results demonstrated that the number of EdU-positive cells significantly decreased, the apoptotic rate significantly increased, and TLR4, MyD88 and NF-[kappa]B(p65) mRNA expression levels were significantly upregulated. TLR4, MyD88 and p-NF-[kappa]B(p65) protein expression levels were significantly upregulated and p-NF-[kappa]B(p65) nuclear concentration was significantly enhanced in the small interfering RNA-miR-216a-5p and LPS groups (P