Fig. 1.

Expression of AdipoR1 was suppressed by miR-3908 in MCF-7 cells. To study if microRNA modulates AdipoR1, or the downstream pathway of AdipoR1 in MCF-7 cells, firstly, using the online software Targetscan (http://targetscan.org/), we tried to forecast miRNAs that target AdipoR1. Within these miRNAs, miR-3908 potentially co-targeted mRNAs of AdipoR1 3’-UTRs. A further proof experiment was carried out with a luciferase reporter gene assay to identify whether 3’-UTRs of AdipoR1 were bonded directly with miR-3908. The results showed that the relative luciferase activities of AdipoR1 3’-UTR were obviously downregulated in MCF-7 cells transfected with miR-3908 (a), but there was no change in the mut-AdipoR1 group (b). However, it was identified that miR-3908 could not form direct bonds with AMPK (c), SIRT-1 (d), or Flotillin-1 (e) 3’-UTRs, respectively. The data are presented as means ± SD from three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01