• Z Cao, N Zhang, T Lou, Y Jin, Y Wu, Z Ye, and J Pan.
• School of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan City, Shandong Province P. R. China ; Department of Respiratory Medicine, People's Hospital of Lishui, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province P. R. China.
• Hippokratia. 2014 Oct 1; 18 (4): 328-32.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the expression of microRNA (miRNA)-183 and Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels β1 subunit (BKCaβ1) in the lung tissues of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).MethodsQuantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used for detecting the expression of miRNA-183 and BKCaβ1 in the lung tissues from 45 COPD patients and 30 lung cancer patients without COPD. Possible miRNAs that target BKCaβ1 were forecasted by bioinformatics. The expression of these miRNAs in the peripheral blood of COPD patients was also examined. After transfecting vascular smooth muscle cells with pGCMV/EGFP/miR-183 plasmid, the expression of miRNA-183 and BKCaβ1 were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting.ResultsThe expression of BKCaβ1 in the lung tissues of COPD patients was significantly lower than control. Western blotting data showed that the expression of BKCaβ1 protein in COPD group was significantly lower than control. After transfecting the vascular smooth muscle cells with pGCMV/EGFP/miR-183 plasmid, we found that the level of BKCaβ1 mRNA was not significantly reduced by the increase of miRNA-183 level, but the expression of BKCaβ1 protein was down-regulated.ConclusionsThe present study indicated that miRNA-183 might play a role in the expression of BKCaβ1, and the expression of miRNA-183 and BKCaβ1 were possibly related with the pathogenetic pathways of COPD. Hippokratia 2014; 18 (4): 328-332.

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