Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 17 pp 12379—12391
Cigarette smoke-induced exosomal miR-221-3p facilitates M1 macrophage polarization via the STAT3 pathway in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Figure 7. Macrophage M1 polarization is enhanced by miR-221-3p from exosomes induced by cigarette smoke (CS), leading to increased p-STAT3 expression. (A) Binding sites for miR-221-3p in SOCS3 using microRNA.org-Targets3. (B) Luciferase reporter assays in epithelial cells co-transfected with wild-type or mutant miR-221-3p and SOCS3. (C) qRT-PCR determination of SOCS3 expression in epithelial cells transfected with miR-221-3p inhibitors or miR-221-3p mimics. (D) STAT3 levels in macrophages transfected with miR-221-3p inhibitors or miR-221-3p mimics determined using western blotting. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM (n = 3–5 replicates). *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; *** P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001.