MicroRNA-9-5p regulates apoptosis of human osteoarthritis chondrocytes through suppressing TnC.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common degenerative diseases, with obesity being one of the main contributing factors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to regulate gene expression and improve OA, making them a promising target for future treatment strategies. Methodology: We measured the expression levels of miR-9-5p and Tenascin C (TnC) using quantitative Real-time PCR. We examined the effect of miR-9-5p overexpression/silencing on chondrocytes using Western blot analysis to assess protein levels and quantitative Real-time PCR analysis to assess gene expression of TnC, Bax, and Bcl-2. We also performed a dual luciferase reporter gene assay to investigate the correlation between miR-9-5p and TnC targeting regulation. Results: We validated successful overexpression/inhibition of miR-9-5p compared to negative control (NC) using quantitative Real-time PCR. We found that the expression of TnC and Bax protein was significantly decreased in the mimic+Model group compared to the model group, while Bcl-2 protein was significantly increased in the mimic+Model group. In contrast, we observed the opposite effect in the inhibitor+Model group. Moreover, our results suggested that upregulation of miR-9-5p decreased the expression of inflammatory factors. Conclusion: miR-9-5p inhibits chondrocyte apoptosis by targeting TnC, offering a therapy target for OA treatment. Our study indicates that miR-9-5p plays an important role in the regulation of OA chondrocytes and can inhibit cell apoptosis by negatively targeting TnC, providing a promising therapy target for the treatment of OA.