Identification of microRNA expression patterns in human myofibroblasts with/without the JQ-1 treatment and/or TGF-b

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic lung disease that normal parenchyma is progressively replaced by fibrotic foci comprised of myofibroblasts, active differentiated fibroblasts. IPF has an overall poor prognosis with median survival ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 years. The underlying disease mechanisms in IPF are largely unknown, and there is still no effective drug that prolongs survival of patients with IPF. It has been known that JQ-1, a BET bromodomain inhibitor, prevents TGF-β-mediated fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation. Moreover, JQ-1 modulates miRNAs expression in various types of cancer cell. In this study, to gain understanding of the relationship between miRNAs expression and the effect of JQ-1 on the dedifferentiation of established myofibroblast, we investigated miRNA profiles in human myofibroblasts with/without the JQ-1 treatment and/or TGF- using miRNA microarray assay. In this miRNA microarray experiment, we used human myofibroblasts. To determine JQ-1-responsive miRNAs in myofibroblasts, total 4 samples were derived from the absence or presence of JQ-1 or TGF-treatment.