MicroRNA-548-3p overexpression inhibits proliferation, migration and invasion in osteoblast-like cells by targeting STAT1 and MAFB

Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease and a public health issue with increasing prevalence in Mexico. This disease is caused by an imbalance in the bone remodelling process mediated by osteoclast and osteoblast. MicroRNAs have emerged as key players during the differentiation of both types of cells specialized involved in bone metabolism. We found high expression levels of miR-548x-3p in circulating monocytes derived from postmenopausal osteoporotic women. This study aimed to analyse the functional characterization of miR-548x-3p roles in the bone remodelling process. We validated by RT-qPCR, the elevated levels of miR-548x-3p in circulating monocytes derived from osteoporosis women. Through bioinformatics analysis, we identify MAFB and STAT1 as potential target genes for miR-548x-3p. Both genes showed low levels of expression in circulating monocytes derived from osteoporotic women. In addition, we demonstrated the binding of miR-548x-3p to the 30-UTR of both mRNAs. MiR-548x-3p was overexpressed in osteoblasts-like cell lines decreasing the levels of MAFB and STAT1 mRNA and protein. We found that miR-548x-3p overexpression inhibits the proliferation, migration and invasion of the cell lines evaluated. Our results identified, by the first time, the potential role of miR-548x-3p as a modulator of the bone remodelling process by regulating the expression of MAFB and STAT1.