Ad, Hercules, CA). Primary CFTR antibody (24-1, R D Systems) and b-actin (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) were added at a dilution of 1:2,000 and 1:10,000, respectively. HRP-conjugated secondary antibody (Pierce, Rockford, IL, USA) was used at 1:10,000. The signal was detected using West Pico (Pierce, Rockford, IL).Statistical AnalysisData are expressed as mean 6 standard errors (SE) of at least three independent experiments. Statistically significant differences were assessed using Student’s t-test. P values ,0.05 were considered significant.Results Cigarette Smoke and Cadmium Induce Up-regulation of miR-101 and miR-We previously showed that the air pollutants cigarette smoke and cadmium suppress the expression of the CFTR chloride channel in human airway epithelial cells [13,16]. We therefore exposed human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells to cigarette smoke Rubusoside chemical information extract and cadmium for 24 hours. The expression of three miRNAs predicted to target CFTR (miR-101, miR-144, and miR145) was determined. Exposure of HBE cells to cigarette smoke resulted in <80- and 4-fold increases of miR-101 and miR-144, respectively, while cadmium induced miR-101 and Deslorelin chemical information miR-144 by <40 and 6 fold (Fig. 1). Conversely, neither cigarette smoke extract nor cadmium increased the expression of miR-145 (Fig. 1).Luciferase AssayThe 39UTR (untranslated region) of CFTR was amplified by RT-PCR out of genomic DNA. The amplified products were subcloned into psiCHECK-2 vector (Promega, Madison, WI). In addition, we conducted mutagenesis of the seed sequence present in the 39UTR to prevent binding of the specific miRNAs. The mutations were confirmed by sequencing. HEK-293 cells were transfected with 50 ng of psiCHECK-CFTR or psiCHECK empty vector and either scrambled pre-miR, pre-miR-101, or pre-miR144. Twenty four hours later, cells were assayed for both firefly and renilla luciferase using the dual luciferase glow assay (Promega, Madison, WI) and VictorTM X3 fluorescent plate reader (PerkinElmer, MA).Expression of miR-144 and miR-101 Suppresses CFTR Protein in HBE CellsSince miR-101 and miR-144 are predicted to target the CFTR gene, we evaluated the effect of these miRNAs on the expression of CFTR protein. We therefore transfected each miRNA as a precursor (premiR) in HBE cells that constitutively express the CFTRMiR-101 and -144 Regulate CFTR ExpressionFigure 1. Effect of the air pollutants cigarette smoke and cadmium on expression of miR-101, miR-144, and miR-145. Human bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) were treated with 5 cigarette smoke extract (CSE) or 2 mM cadmium (Cd) for 24 hours. Total RNA 1407003 was isolated and expression of mature miR-101, miR-144, and miR-145 was measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Data are representative of at least three independent experiments. *p,0.05. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050837.gprotein. Transfection with premiR-101 or premiR-144 resulted in suppression of the CFTR protein as observed in Figure 2A. The expression of mature miR-101 and miR-144 was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. Mature miR-101 and miR-144 could be detected six hours post-transfection and were still highly expressed 48 hours after transfection (Fig. 2B and data not shown).MiR-101 and miR-144 Target CFTR 39UTRIn order to confirm that miR-101 and miR-144 directly target CFTR, the CFTR 39UTR was subcloned into the 1662274 reporter psiCHECK-2 vector. As indicated in Figure 3, expression of miR101 reduced the reporter activity by <40 . Similarly, overexpression of miR-144 resulted in <30 and 50 dec.Ad, Hercules, CA). Primary CFTR antibody (24-1, R D Systems) and b-actin (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) were added at a dilution of 1:2,000 and 1:10,000, respectively. HRP-conjugated secondary antibody (Pierce, Rockford, IL, USA) was used at 1:10,000. The signal was detected using West Pico (Pierce, Rockford, IL).Statistical AnalysisData are expressed as mean 6 standard errors (SE) of at least three independent experiments. Statistically significant differences were assessed using Student's t-test. P values ,0.05 were considered significant.Results Cigarette Smoke and Cadmium Induce Up-regulation of miR-101 and miR-We previously showed that the air pollutants cigarette smoke and cadmium suppress the expression of the CFTR chloride channel in human airway epithelial cells [13,16]. We therefore exposed human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells to cigarette smoke extract and cadmium for 24 hours. The expression of three miRNAs predicted to target CFTR (miR-101, miR-144, and miR145) was determined. Exposure of HBE cells to cigarette smoke resulted in <80- and 4-fold increases of miR-101 and miR-144, respectively, while cadmium induced miR-101 and miR-144 by <40 and 6 fold (Fig. 1). Conversely, neither cigarette smoke extract nor cadmium increased the expression of miR-145 (Fig. 1).Luciferase AssayThe 39UTR (untranslated region) of CFTR was amplified by RT-PCR out of genomic DNA. The amplified products were subcloned into psiCHECK-2 vector (Promega, Madison, WI). In addition, we conducted mutagenesis of the seed sequence present in the 39UTR to prevent binding of the specific miRNAs. The mutations were confirmed by sequencing. HEK-293 cells were transfected with 50 ng of psiCHECK-CFTR or psiCHECK empty vector and either scrambled pre-miR, pre-miR-101, or pre-miR144. Twenty four hours later, cells were assayed for both firefly and renilla luciferase using the dual luciferase glow assay (Promega, Madison, WI) and VictorTM X3 fluorescent plate reader (PerkinElmer, MA).Expression of miR-144 and miR-101 Suppresses CFTR Protein in HBE CellsSince miR-101 and miR-144 are predicted to target the CFTR gene, we evaluated the effect of these miRNAs on the expression of CFTR protein. We therefore transfected each miRNA as a precursor (premiR) in HBE cells that constitutively express the CFTRMiR-101 and -144 Regulate CFTR ExpressionFigure 1. Effect of the air pollutants cigarette smoke and cadmium on expression of miR-101, miR-144, and miR-145. Human bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) were treated with 5 cigarette smoke extract (CSE) or 2 mM cadmium (Cd) for 24 hours. Total RNA 1407003 was isolated and expression of mature miR-101, miR-144, and miR-145 was measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Data are representative of at least three independent experiments. *p,0.05. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050837.gprotein. Transfection with premiR-101 or premiR-144 resulted in suppression of the CFTR protein as observed in Figure 2A. The expression of mature miR-101 and miR-144 was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. Mature miR-101 and miR-144 could be detected six hours post-transfection and were still highly expressed 48 hours after transfection (Fig. 2B and data not shown).MiR-101 and miR-144 Target CFTR 39UTRIn order to confirm that miR-101 and miR-144 directly target CFTR, the CFTR 39UTR was subcloned into the 1662274 reporter psiCHECK-2 vector. As indicated in Figure 3, expression of miR101 reduced the reporter activity by <40 . Similarly, overexpression of miR-144 resulted in <30 and 50 dec.
