miR-29c-3p inhibits microglial NLRP3 inflammasome activation by targeting NFAT5 in Parkinson's disease

Microglial inflammation is identified as a key process associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis. Our previous study showed that miR-29c-3p (miR-29c) exhibited anti-inflammatory properties in PD animal and neuronal models. However, the specific role and regulatory mechanism of miR-29c played in microglia are still unclear. In this study, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV-2 cells were used to establish a cellular model of microglial activation for investigating PD. The results showed a decreased expression of miR-29c in LPS-induced BV-2 cells. Over-expression of miR-29c suppressed LPS-triggered Iba-1 increment, pro-inflammatory cytokine release, and NF-kB and TXNIP/NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Silence of miR-29c induced similar effects with LPS on microglial inflammation. In addition, we found that NFAT5 was negatively correlated with miR-29c. Knockdown of NFAT5 blocked the aggravated inflammation in microglia treated by miR-29c inhibitor. Thus, these findings suggest that miR-29c modulates NLRP3 inflammasome to impair microglial inflammatory responses by targeting NFAT5, which represents a promising therapeutic target for PD.