Figure 5: MiR-125a^−/− Treg cells display increased effector T genes.

(a) Genome microarray analysis of CD4⁺CD25^hi Treg cells from miR-125a-deficient and WT mice. Splenic CD4⁺ T cells from miR-125a-deficient and WT mice were enriched by Miltenyi Biotec beads. Then, Treg cells (CD4⁺CD25^hi) were sorted by flow cytometry and harvested in Trizol. Samples from three independent experiments were pooled for the microarray analysis. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis analysis was used to investigate which molecular pathways were affected by miR-125a deficiency. Genes that are associated with the T-helper cell pathways show the most significant enrichment, among which gene transcripts up- or downregulated by >30% are listed in a. Left, gene symbols. Right, fold change of gene expression in miR-125a-deficient Treg compared with WT Treg. (b) Quantitative RT–PCR analysis of the expression levels of genes associated with T-helper cell differentiation pathway in a. Different T-helper cell subsets are marked in different colours. Data are representative of three (b) independent experiments (mean±s.e.m.). Array data are available in GEO under accession code GSE66608.