Abstract

This study evaluated the clinical significance of miR-567 in atherosclerosis and its regulatory effect on PDGF-BB-induced VSMCs, aiming to identify a novel biomarker for the risk and progression of atherosclerosis. The study enrolled 113 atherosclerosis patients and 126 non-atherosclerosis patients. Serum miR-567 level was compared between the two groups and its significance in disease severity was assessed. T/G human VSMC was induced with PDGF-BB, and based on this cell model, the regulatory effect and potential mechanism of miR-567 was estimated. miR-567 was upregulated in atherosclerosis patients and showed diagnostic significance (AUC = 0.875). miR-567 was positively correlated with homocysteine, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein, and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein ( r  > 0.7, P  < 0.0001). miR-567 was upregulated in PDGF-BB-induced VSMCs, and silencing miR-567 showed protective effect on PDGF-BB-induced VSMCs. CSF1R was negatively correlated with miR-567. Silencing CSF1R reversed the protective effect of miR-567 silencing on PDGF-BB-induced VSMCs.