Title: MiR-128-3p inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation of spontaneously hypertensive rats via targeting KLF4
Abstract: Abstract Background Hypertension as a refractory disease has always been a major clinical problem. The proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays core roles in vascular remodeling of hypertension. MicroRNAs are a type of small noncoding RNA that modulate gene expression via binding different target genes. Methods and results In this study, we investigated that miR-128-3p inhibited the proliferation of SHR-VSMCs via targeting KLF4. Firstly, we found that the expression levels of miR-128-3p were significantly reduced in SHR aorta and VSMCs compared with WKY. Overexpression of miR-128-3p arrested the function of proliferation in VSMCs. Furthermore, we confirmed that KLF4 was a direct target gene of miR-128-3p, and knockdown of KLF4 suppressed the proliferation. Conclusions Our findings indicated that overexpression of miR-128-3p in SHR attenuates vascular remodeling and hypertension.