Fig. 6: MKNK1 is a target of miR-503-322 and acinar cell-specific restoration of it reverses the phenotype of pancreatitis in mice.

A The MKNK1 network was predicted based on the common signature from the Ingenuity database overlaid with microarray data from miR-503-overexpressing mouse pancreatic β cell line MIN6 cells with a 1.5-fold change cutoff compared with negative control cells. B WT and EKI male mice at 5 days after tamoxifen induction; Male C57BL/6 J at 12-week and 1.5-year; male WT and KO at 12-week after AP induced and β-cell-specific sponge of miR-503-322 in control and experimental mice pancreatic protein western blotting. n = 3–5. C Experimental scheme: 8-week-old WT male mice were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with control AAV and EKI male mice were injected with control (Ctr-AAV) and MKNK1-AAV, respectively, one-month later tamoxifen was induced for 3 consecutive days and tested at day 7. n = 5. D Immunofluorescence staining of Flag (red) and MKNK1 (green) of pancreas sections from each group of mice at 13 weeks. n = 5 mice. E Western blotting of pancreatic proteins from each group of mice at 13 weeks. n = 2. F Gain of body weight, serum amylase and lipase level were monitored during tamoxifen induction. n = 5. G Representative images of H&E and F4/80 immunohistochemistry of the pancreas in each group. Arrows indicate the macrophages. H Quantitation of the number of F4/80 positive cells in each group and the pancreatic histological score. n = 5 mice, three sections per mouse (50 µm apart), and at least 10 microscopic fields per section. Data are means ± SEM. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA (F) and one-way ANOVA (H) with the Tukey test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.