miR-525-5p inhibits ADAMTS13 and is correlated with Ischemia/reperfusion injury-induced neuronal cell death

The understanding of molecular mechanism underlying ischemia/reperfusion-induced neuronal death and neurological dysfunction may provide therapeutic targets for ischemic stroke. In this study, miR-525-5p is clearly reduced in the ischemic brain after oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). Using TargetScan, MicroCosm Targets version 5, and microRNA.org databases, we identified miR-525-5p as a possible regulator of the ADAMTS13. We validated that ADAMTS13 is a target for miR-525-5p with a luciferase reporter activity assay. Moreover, adult rats subjected to focal cerebral ischemia exhibited a substantial reduction of miR-525-5p expression, which was inversely upregulated by ADAMTS13 expression. In vivo treatment with miR-525-5p agomir effectively decreased ADAMTS13 mRNA and protein levels in the ischemic region. Furthermore, knockdown of cerebral miR-525-5p reduced cell death and infarct size. In addition, the knockdown of ADAMTS13 by ADAMTS13 siRNA apparently abrogated the protective effect of miR-525-5p antagomir on OGD-induced cell death. Our data demonstrate that miR-525-5p is an endogenous regulator of ADAMTS13 that improves ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced brain injury and dysfunction.