MiR-149 promotes the myocardial differentiation of mouse bone marrow stem cells by targeting Dab2

Abstract

To investigate the role of microRNA (miR)-149 in the cardiac differentiation of mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vitro, MSCs were infected with a lentivirus overexpressing miR-149 and the effect on cardiac differentiation was determined. The quantitative polymerase chain reaction results demonstrated that miR-149 promoted the expression of cardiac-specific markers in MSCs. Western blotting and a luciferase activity assay demonstrated that disabled homolog 2 (Dab2) was a direct target of miR-149. Dab2 ectopic expression and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibition was able to reverse the increased expression of cardiac-specific markers induced by miR-149. In conclusion, miR-149 was able to target Dab2 and promote the cardiac differentiation of mouse MSCs in vitro, which depended upon the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.