miR-573 regulates cell proliferation and apoptosis by targeting Bax in nucleus pulposus cells

Background MicroRNA (miRNA) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). The expression and potential mechanism of miR-573 in human nucleus pulposus (NP) remains to be elucidated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of miR-573 in IDD. Methods Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis was applied to examine the expression of miR-573 and Bax in idiopathic scoliosis tissues and IDD tissues. Human NP cells were employed for analysis. Moreover, the proliferation and apoptosis of NP cells were detected using MTT and flow cytometry assay respectively. The expression levels of Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9, caspase-3 and caspase-9 in degenerative NP cells were measured by Western blotting assay. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the relationship between miR-573 and Bax. Results The results revealed that the mRNA expression level of miR-573 was down-regulated whereas Bax was up-regulated notably in degenerative NP cells. In addition, overexpression of miR-573 increased cell viability remarkably, coupled with inhibition of cell apoptosis. The expression level of Bcl-2 was increased while cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 expression levels were decreased in miR-573 overexpression NP cells. Additionally, the bioinformatics analysis underscored that Bax was a direct target gene of miR-573. Conclusion These results suggest that overexpression of miR-573 inhibited NP cell apoptosis by down-regulating Bax, which proved to be a novel effective strategy for IDD therapies.