Knockdown of Small Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 14 Alleviates Sepsis-Induced Acute Kidney Injury by Targeting miR-145-5p In Vitro and In Vivo

Acute kidney injury (AKI) manly occurred after sepsis and led to severe damage of the kidney. The present study was designed to explore the underlying mechanism of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) SNHG14 in sepsis-induced AKI in in vitro and in vivo. The cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) rats was used as sepsis-induced AKI model for in vivo studies and HK-2 cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration were used as cell model for in vitro studies. Kidney tissues were stained by Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) for histological examination. The relative levels of SNHG14 and miR-145-5p was detected using qRT-PCR. The levels of serum cytokines, inflammatory factors, oxidative stress factors, apoptosis-related proteins were evaluated by ELISA and western blot. Apoptosis was detected using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Compared with the sham group, the rats in the CLP group showed injured pathological morphology of kidney, high levels of serum Scr, and BUN, elevated contents of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1 beta, malondialdehyde (MDA) and apoptosis, but low SOD level in kidney tissues. However, all these changes were reversed by shRNA-SNHG14 administration or transfection in vivo and in vitro. SNHG14 level was upregulated, while miR-145-5p significantly decreased in kidney tissues of CLP rats and LPS-induced HK-2 cells. The target gene of miR-145-5p was SNHG14, verifying through luciferase reporter analysis. Further, miR-145-5p knockdown transfection significantly reversed the inhibition of SNHG14 interference on the secretion of inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis in LPS-induced HK-2 cells. SNHG14 silence can alleviate AKI in sepsis by upregulating the miR-145-5p expression. SNHG14 might be used as a potential therapeutic target for sepsis-induced AKI.