Rhein attenuates renal inflammatory injury of uric acid nephropathy via lincRNA-Cox2/miR-150-5p/STAT1 axis

Abstract

Rhein has protective effect on uric acid nephropathy (UAN). This article aims to demystify the mechanism of function of rhein in UAN. Mouse kidney epithelial cell line (TCMK-1) was incubated with uric acid (UA) to induce inflammatory injury. Then, the TCMK-1 cells were treated with rhein. The relationships among lincRNA-Cox2, miR-150-5p and STAT1 were evaluated by luciferase reporter assay. CCK8 and flow cytometry were performed to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis. The levels of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α were investigated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR were performed to examine the expression of genes and proteins. We found that UA suppressed proliferation and enhanced apoptosis and the levels of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α of TCMK-1 cells, which was effectively improved by rhein treatment. Furthermore, lincRNA-Cox2 overexpression caused an increase of apoptosis and inflammatory factors in the rhein-treated TCMK-1 cells. LincRNA-Cox2 regulated STAT1 expression by sponging miR-150-5p. And lincRNA-Cox2 promoted apoptosis and inflammatory injury of TCMK-1 cells by regulating miR-150-5p/STAT1 axis. In summary, our studies demonstrate that rhein has a protective effect against UAN by inhibiting renal inflammatory injury via lincRNA-Cox2/miR-150-5p/STAT1 axis.