Abstract

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is the third leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity worldwide, after coronary artery disease and stroke. As endogenous regulators of gene expression, microRNAs (miRs) are implicated in the development and progression of various diseases, including types of cancer, autoimmune diseases and heart diseases. In the present study, the role of miR1243p in PAD was investigated. The reverse transcriptionquantitative PCR results indicated that the expression levels of miR1243p were significantly increased in the ischemic tissue of the hindlimb ischemia (HLI) model and in hypoxic human umbilical vein endothelial cells compared with the corresponding control groups. Proliferation, wound healing and tube formation assays demonstrated the inhibition of miR1243p on angiogenesis in vitro and the HLI model indicated the same function of miR1243p in vivo. A dualluciferase reporter revealed STAT3 as the target of miR1243p. The expression levels of miR1243p in human blood were negatively correlated with anklebrachial index, which is an index for the evaluation of the severity of PAD. Collectively, the present study indicated that miR1243p was a critical regulator of angiogenesis in PAD, and a potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic target for PAD.