Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation and chondrification in vivo The purpose of the present study was to explore the potential mechanism of miR-128 in osteoporosis (OP).Methods: Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to determine the expression of miR-128 in femoral neck trabecular bones of OP patients (n=40) and non-OP patients (n=40). C2C12 cells were transfected with miR-128 mimic or inhibitor to determine the effect of miR-128 on osteoblastic differentiation of C2C12 cells. Bioinformatics and luciferase reporter genes were used to determine the molecular mechanism of miR-128 in osteoblastic differentiation of C2C12 cells.Results: The qRT-PCR results showed that the expression level of miR-128 in bone samples of OP patients was significantly higher than that of non-OP patients, while miR-128 was significantly down-regulated during the osteogenic differentiation of C2C12 cells. In addition, the results showed that overexpression of miR-128 significantly inhibited the mRNA and protein expression levels of osteocalcin (OC), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and collagen I type-α1 (COL1A1) in C2C12 cells, while miR-128 inhibitor could reverse this effect. Bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay found that silencing information regulatory protein 6 (SIRT6) was a direct target of miR-128. The qRT-PCR and Western Blot results found that miR-128 significantly down-regulated the mRNA and protein expressions of SIRT6. Furthermore, silencing SIRT6 significantly inhibited the promoting effect of the miR-128 inhibitor on the expression of osteoblast markers.Conclusion: The above results confirmed that miR-128 inhibited osteoblast differentiation in OP by down-regulating SIRT6 expression, thus accelerating the development of OP.

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