BioProject

We investigate and define here the in vivo biological effects of shikonin, at the transcriptome and microRNA levels, in mouse skin tissues. More...

We investigate and define here the in vivo biological effects of shikonin, at the transcriptome and microRNA levels, in mouse skin tissues. Through cross-examination between total RNA transcripts and microRNA data sets, we predicted that shikonin treatment may affect the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and the expression of related microRNAs, including 200a, 200b, 200c, 141, 205 and 429 microRNAs, in test skin tissue. Indeed, further in vivo tests on mouse abdominal skin tissue confirmed the stimulatory effect of shikonin on regulatory molecules of the EMT process in epidermal tissue. In addition, RT-PCR analyses confirmed the downregulating effects of shikonin on the expression of microRNA 205 and members of the microRNA 200 family, which are known to be involved in the EMT process. Gene expression of two RNA targets of the microRNA 200 family in EMT regulation, namely Sip1 (Zeb2) and Tcf8 (Zeb1), were consistently upregulated by shikonin treatment. We demonstrate here that shikonin can confer a potent stimulatory effect on the EMT process and suppress the associated-microRNAs expression in vivo in skin tissues. Overall design: In order to systematically evaluate the effects of shikonin on mouse skin tissues, we next compared the gene expression profiles in shikonin-treated and acetone-treated skin tissues at different time points. Total RNA samples were collected at indicated time points for transcriptome and microRNA array analyses. Less...