Development of human cells with RXFP1 knockdown using retroviral delivery of microRNA against human RXFP1.

To study the specific actions of relaxin through RXFP1 in human cells, it would be advantageous to develop cell populations with permanent RXFP1 knockdown (KD). We have developed and assessed four microRNA against human RXFP1. One of the four designed microRNA displayed significant RXFP1 KD as assessed by reduced relaxin binding when co-transfected with human RXFP1 into HEK-293T cells. The selected microRNA sequence was subsequently retrovirally delivered into the human dermal fibroblast cell line BJ3 which natively expresses RXFP1. The RXFP1 KD BJ3 cells displayed diminished RXFP1 mRNA expression and complete loss of ability of relaxin treatment to reduce collagen deposition after TGF-beta1 stimulation. The retroviral expression of miRNA to successfully silence RXFP1 expression is an invaluable tool to investigate receptor specificity, signalling and possible off-target effects of newly developed relaxin analogs.