MicroRNA-145 alleviates high glucose-induced proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells through targeting ROCK1

The excessive proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are important steps in atherosclerosis. The present study aimed to investigate whether the high glucose-induced changes of VSCMs are mediated by miR-145 and the potential molecular mechanism involved. We found that loss of miR-145 accompanied with increased proliferation and migration was observed in cultured human VSMCs exposed to high glucose. Exogenous overexpression of miR-145 effectively suppressed the high glucose-induced excessive proliferation and migration of VSMCs. Furthermore, we identified ROCK1 as a downstream target gene product of miR-145, and ROCK1 partially rescues the effects of miR-145 on high glucose-induced VSMC proliferation and migration. Taken together, our results suggested a protective role of miR-145 in high glucose-treated VSMCs by suppressing ROCK1, which might provide a therapeutic target for diabetic atherosclerosis.