microRNA-148 is involved in NF-κB signaling pathway regulation after LPS stimulation by targeting IL-1β in miiuy croaker.

The inflammatory response is a protective process to clear detrimental stimuli, constitutes the defense against infectious pathogens. Clearing pathogen infection requires appropriate immune and inflammatory response, but excessive inflammatory response can lead to uncontrolled inflammation, autoimmune disease, or pathogen transmission. Accumulating evidences show that miRNAs are important and multifunctional regulators of innate immunity and inflammation. However, in the inflammatory response of lower vertebrates, the miRNAs regulatory networks are largely unknown. In this study, a combination of bioinformatics and experimental techniques were used to investigate the functions of miR-148. IL-1β is a hypothetical target gene of miR-148 predicted by bioinformatics. In addition, dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment was used to verify the targeting effect of miR-148 on IL-1β-3'UTR. miR-148 inhibits IL-1β expression in a dose-dependent manner at protein and mRNA levels. It is important that miR-148 participates in regulation of LPS-induced the NF-κB signaling pathway by inhibiting IL-1β. These results will improve our understanding of the regulation of miRNAs in fish on the immune response.