Abstract: Objective: We aimed to study the influence of miR-144 on human erythroid differentiation via targeting the retinoblastoma protein ( RB). Methods: K562 cells were treated with hemin to differentiate into mature red cells. Real-time PCR analysis was used to detect the changes of miR-144 expression during erythroid differentiation. K562 cells were transfected with oligonucleotides (mimic-144) and the influence of erythropoiesis was measured. The target gene of miR-144 was identified by using bioinformatics analysis combined with Dual-luciferase reporter and Western blot analysis. Results: MiR-144 was significantly increased during hemin-induced K562 erythroid differentiation（P<0.05）. Over-expression of miR-144 in K562 cells promoted the stimulation of γ-globin and CD235a. Moreover, RB was identified as a direct target of miR-144. Expression of RB increased slightly and then reduced obviously in erythroid differentiation . Grey mean of RB/GAPDH minimum point: 12h 0.092±0.007（P<0.05 compared with 0h）. Conclusion: MiR-144 played a positive role in erythroid differentiation of K562 cells via targeting RB.

Key words: microRNA-144, erythroid differentiation, RB