miR-33a Expression Attenuates ABCA1-Dependent Cholesterol Efflux and Promotes Macrophage-Like Cell Transdifferentiation in Cultured Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Figure 1

Characterization of KO MOVAS cells. Schematic illustrating miR-33a deletion in MOVAS cells (a) and endpoint PCR-based screening (b) demonstrating excision of miR-33a in KO MOVAS cells. The green line indicates intron, the red arrow indicates forward primer, and the purple arrow indicates reverse primer. (c) Endpoint RT-PCR for detection of the U6 reference gene, the miR-33a-5p mature strand, and the miR-33a-3p mature strand in WT and KO MOVAS cells. NTC = nontemplate control reactions. (d) Active nSREBP-2 protein and GAPDH housekeeping protein detected by immunoblotting in WT and KO MOVAS cells cultured in either basal or hypolipidemic serum-starved (SS) conditions. (e) SREBP-2 target gene expression measured by RT-qPCR in basal and SS WT and KO MOVAS cells. shows statistical significance ().

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