Inflammation and excessive proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) have key roles in various vascular disorders, including restenosis, atherosclerosis and pulmonary artery hypertension. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The present study investigated the role of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and microRNA (miRNA) in the regulation of VSMC proliferation under inflammatory conditions. It was demonstrated that miR-17 stimulated the proliferation of VSMCs, enhanced cell cycle G1/S transition, and increased levels of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and E2F1. By directly targeting the retinoblastoma (RB) protein mRNA-3′ untranslated region, miR-17 suppressed the expression of RB. Activation of NF-κB p65 resulted in increased miR-17 expression in VSMCs, whereas inactivation of NF-κB p65 resulted in decreased expression of miR-17 in VSMCs. NF-κB p65 signalling directly regulates miR-17 promoter activity. NF-κB p65 activation also suppressed RB expression, which was abrogated by miR-17 inhibitor. Taken together, the present results indicated that VSMC proliferation is regulated by activation of the NF-κB p65/miR-17/RB pathway. As NF-κB p65 signalling is activated in and is a master regulator of the inflammatory response, the present findings may provide a mechanism for the excessive proliferation of VSMCs under inflammation during vascular disorders and may identify novel targets for the treatment of vascular diseases.

PurposeTo investigate whether carbon nanoparticles (CNs) are helpful in identifying lymph nodes and metastatic lymph nodes and in parathyroid protection during thyroid cancer surgery.MethodsEnglish and Chinese literature in PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, China Biology Medicine Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Master’s and Doctoral Theses Full-Text Database, Wanfang database, and Cqvip database were searched (till March 22, 2016). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the use of CNs with a blank control in patients undergoing thyroid cancer surgery were included. Quality assessment and data extraction were performed, and a meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.1 software. The primary outcomes were the number of retrieved central lymph nodes and metastatic lymph nodes, and the rate of accidental parathyroid removal.ResultsWe obtained 149 relevant studies, and only 47 RCTs with 4,605 patients (CN group: n=2,197; blank control group: n=2,408) met the inclusion criteria. Compared with the control group, the CN group was associated with more retrieved lymph nodes/patient (weighted mean difference [WMD]: 3.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.73–4.05), more retrieved metastatic lymph nodes (WMD: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.61–1.35), lower rate of accidental parathyroid removal, and lower rates of hypoparathyroidism and hypocalcemia. However, the total metastatic rate of the retrieved lymph nodes did not differ between the groups (odds ratio: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.87–1.47, P=0.35).ConclusionCNs can improve the extent of neck dissection and protect the parathyroid glands during thyroid cancer surgery. And the number of identified metastatic lymph nodes can be simultaneously increased.

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