Effect of low expression of miR-21 on apoptosis of HepG2 cells induced by matrine

AIM: To explore whether miR-21 low expression enhances the effect of matrine (MAT) on the apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.METHODS: Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expression of miR-21 in the HepG2 cells treated with different concentrations of MAT. The effect of miR-21 on MAT-induced HepG2 cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry. The mRNA and protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in the HepG2 cells treated with MAT was determined by RT-qPCR and Western blot.RESULTS: The expression of miR-21 increased with the increasing concentration of MAT. Low expression of miR-21 promoted MAT-induced apoptosis, and enhanced the expression of Bax at mRNA and protein levels (P<0.05), while inhibited the expression of Bcl-2 at mRNA and protein levels (P<0.05).CONCLUSION: Low expression of miR-21 enhances MAT-induced HepG2 cell apoptosis by inhibiting the expression of Bcl-2 and promoting Bax expression.