Abstract: Objective To understand the regulatory network of myeloid differentiation promoted by miR-29a/miR-142-3p deeply. Methods Firstly, miR-29a and miR-142-3p were overexpressed in HL-60 cells meanwhile HL-60 cells were also induced towards monocyte and granulocyte differentiation using PMA and ATRA respectively. Used May- Grünwald-Giemsa staining to observe the nuclear morphometry change and utilized Real time PCR to detect the expression of CD11 and CD14 in cells. Genes which possessed similar expression pattern were obtained by microarray and analyzed for their similarities. Analyzed by GO and signal pathway clustering using DAVID and GeneMANIA. Utilizing PicTar and TargetScan, predicted new targets of miR-29a which were also verified by double-luciferase reporter assay. Results Many differential expressed genes during ATRA/PMA induced myeloid differentiation or in the cells with miR-29a/miR-142-3p overexpression were similar. Significantly enriched genes in GO analysis which also possessed similar expression patterns were almost associated with cell differentiation. Conclusion miR-29a and miR-142-3p regulated the activity of their targets, triggered global gene expression change to make it closer to that during myeloid differentiation and then promoted myeloid differentiation. ZBTB5, CaMKK2, SUV420H2, TRIB2 and CANX may play important roles in myeloid differentiation promoted by miR-29a.

Key words: miR-29a, miR-142-3p, myeloid differentiation, gene expression, GO analysis