Melatonin Alleviates Radiation-Induced Lung Injury via Regulation of miR-30e/NLRP3 Axis

Figure 5

miR-30e/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling is involved in the melatonin-mediated radioprotection in RAW 264.7 cells. (a) A predicted miR-30e binding site in the 3UTR of NLRP3 and the complementary wild-type NLRP3 sequence or mutant sequences are shown. (b) The luciferase assay was performed to verify if NLRP3 is a target gene of miR-30e. The cells were cotransfected with either miR-30e mimics or the miR-30e inhibitor or their corresponding negative control (miR-NC) and either wild-type (WT) or mutant NLRP3 3UTR. Data are expressed as the means ± SEM. vs. mimic negative control or inhibitor negative control, ; N.S, not significant. (c) The beneficial effect of melatonin on the elevated NLRP3, ASC, and cleaved caspase-1 (p20) expressions was negated by a miR-30e inhibitor. The data are presented as the means ± SEM. vs. the control group. vs. the control group. (d) Transfection of miR-30e mimics markedly decreased NLRP3 protein expression. The amounts of each protein were quantified by densitometry and expressed relative to the amount of β-actin in the same samples. The data are presented as the means ± SEM. vs. the RT group. vs. the RT group. RT, radiation; Mel, melatonin.

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