Identification of common lupus-disease related microRNA expression pattern in three different murine models of lupus

In this study, miRNA expression in splenic lymphocytes from three genetically disparate lupus-prone mouse models (MRL-lpr, B6-lpr and NZB/WF1) were profiled. 49 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in MRL-lpr mice compared to MRL mice; and 24 miRNAs were differentially expressed in B6-lpr mice compared to B6 mice. Among these dysregulated miRNAs, we noted that 15 miRNAs were common to both lpr strains. Interestingly, microarray analysis of NZB/W and NZW at 3 months of age, an age when overt lupus disease is not evident in NZB/W mice, revealed that only one miRNA, miR-148a was significantly upregulated in NZB/W mice. The aim of this porject is to determine the common miRNA expression changes in splenocytes from different strains of murine lupus models. The splenocytes were prepared from genetically lupus-prone female mice including MRL/MpJ-Faslpr/J (MRL-lpr), NZBWF1/J (NZB/W), B6.MRL-Faslpr/J (B6-lpr) and their control mice MRL/MpJ (MRL), NZW/LacJ (NZW) and C57BL/6J (B6) mice (The Jackson laboratory, ME). Total RNAs, containing miRNAs were isolated from whole splenocytes using mirVana miRNA isolation kits (Ambion) following manufactory’s instructions and sent to LC Sciences (http://www.lcsciences.com/) for the microarray assay. The mouse miRNA array chips (Chip ID miRMouse 12.0 version), which included 617 unique, mature, mouse miRNA, based on the Sanger miRBase Release 12.0, were used in the assay.