Abstract: Objective To study microRNA-451 (miR-451)'s influence on diabetic nephropathy epithelial mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT). Methods Taking human healthy kidney tissues and diabetic nephropathy kidney tissues, real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of miR-451, Akt and EMT related genes (E-cadhering, vimentin and alpha smooth muscle actin)in different groups; Western blot and immuno-histochemical staining (IHC) were used to detect the expression of Akt and EMT related proteins in different groups. Results The expressions of miR-451 and E-cadherin mRNA significantly reduced in diabetic nephropathy kidney tissues as compared with healthy kidney tissues, and the expressions of Akt, vimentin and alpha-SMA mRNA significantly increased. The expressions of Akt, vimentin and alpha-SMA protein significantly increased, and the expression of E-cadherin protein decreased significantly (P＜0.05). Conclusions The miR-451 is likely to negatively influence diabetic nephropathy epithelial mesenchymal trans differentiation by Akt.

Key words: diabetic nephropathy, miR-451, epithelial-mesenchymal transformation