Silencing of H19 inhibits the adipogenesis and inflammation response in ox-LDL-treated Raw264.7 cells by up-regulating miR-130b

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases (CADs). Lipid accumulation and inflammatory response in macrophages are two key factors in the pathogenesis of AS. In this study, we aimed to explore the regulating role of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA)-H19 in oxygenized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-treated Raw264.7 cells. Compared with the healthy control, a relatively higher level of H19 was detected in the blood samples from AS patients. Obviously up-regulated expression of TG (triglycerides)/TC (total cholesterol)/LDL-C (low density lipoprotein-cholesterol) and down-regulated level of HDL-C (high density lipoprotein-cholesterol) were detected in ox-LDL-treated Raw264.7 cells. Besides that, increased expression of H19 was detected in ox-LDL-treated Raw264.7 cells. To examine the function of H19, gene knockdown was performed using short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs). The expression of TG, TC, LDL-C and HDL-C was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Elisa) and the expression of lipolytic genes/lipogenic genes (PPARα, CPT-1/REBP-1c, ACS) was examined through western blot. In combination with the result of oil red O staining, we concluded that H19 shRNA effectively decreased lipid accumulation in ox-LDL-treated Raw264.7 cells. Besides that, H19 shRNA decreased the level of pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β)/CD68+ cells and increased the level of anti-inflammatory factors (IL-4, IL-10)/CD163+ cells compared with the control group. Combined the bioinformatics analyses/luciferase assay with the promoting effect of H19 shRNA on the expression of miR-130b, we speculated that miR-130b was a target of H19 in ox-LDL-treated Raw264.7 cells. Moreover, the adding of LncRNA H19 abolished the facilitating effect of miR-130b inhibitor on adipogenesis and inflammation response by up-regulating the expression of miR-130b. Taken together, our research indicated a H19-miR130b pathway in regulating lipid metabolism and inflammation response in ox-LDL-treated Raw264.7 cells, providing new targets for AS treatment.