Effect of miR-146a and miR-150 on T-cell lymphoid differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells

Micro RNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs which have been recently shown to play a crucial role in major cellular processes such as development and differentiation through post-transcriptional regulation. The role of these epigenetic elements has been also demonstrated in hematopoietic lineage differentiation and there is a large body of evidence that miR-150 and miR-146a are responsible for T lymphocyte differentiation. Our goal was to examine the effect of miR-150 and miR-146a overexpression in hematopoietic stem cells and its ability to differentiate these cells into a T lymphoid cell. In this experimental study CD133+ stem cells were employed as hematopoietic stem cells and permanent overexpression of miR-150 and miR-146a was established. The differentiation progress was tracked by flowcytometry for lymphocyte markers such as CD4 and CD8. Moreover، expression of miR-146a and miR-150 by RT-PCR and quantitative real time PCR after 7 days was studied. The cells showed T lymphoid characteristics 7 days after transduction. CD4 and especially CD8 expression significantly increased. In conclusion، miR-150 and miR-146a overexpression is an effective factor in T cytotoxic differentiation and they have the ability of directing CD133+ hematopoietic stem cells to express T lymphoid characteristics.