Article

S1UTRSP5, a short restructured RNA from SLIT1 3′UTR, mitigates mouse cardiac remodeling via enhancing SlRT1 activity

Jin-feng Su1,2, Tao Ou2, Xiao-yao Liu3, Xue-min Su1, Ya Wang1, Yi-hong Wen2, Yuan Gao1, Ruo-han Li1, Lu-fang Huang2, Chuan-meng Zhou2, Heng-li Zhao2, Jie-ning Zhu2, Ning Ma3, Xi-long Zheng4, Yu-peng Liu5, Jin-dong Xu2, Hui Li2, Xian-hong Fang5, Zhi-xin Shan1,2
1 School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
2 Key Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, Medical Research Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510080, China
3 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Guangzhou National Laboratory, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510005, China
4 Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Libin Cardiovascular Institute, The University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
5 Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510080, China
Correspondence to: Hui Li: lihui3205@gdph.org.cn, Xian-hong Fang: fangxianhong@gdph.org.cn, Zhi-xin Shan: shanzhixin@gdph.org.cn,
DOI: 10.1038/s41401-026-01859-w
Received: 10 December 2025
Accepted: 20 May 2026
Advance online: 11 June 2026

Abstract

The 3′ untranslated regions (3′UTRs) have been known to regulate mRNA location, stability, and translation. 3′UTR length regulation is involved in the pathogenesis of cardiac dysfunction; however, more about the roles of 3′UTRs in cardiac remodeling remains elusive. In this study, we found slit guidance ligand 1 (SLIT1) 3′UTR with 3074 nt in length, which was 10-fold higher than SLIT1 coding sequence (CDS), was significantly decreased in the myocardium of patients with heart failure (HF) (n = 40) in comparison with healthy organ donors (n=17). We revealed that SLIT1 3′UTR and the 1526 nt fragment of SLIT1 3′UTR (FS1UTR) mainly and specifically combined miR-34a-5p, and improved cardiac remodeling through the miR-34a-5p/SIRT1 axis independently of Slit1 expression. Furthermore, a 260 nt restructured RNA derived from FS1UTR, S1UTRSP5, which contains 5 binding sites of miR-34a-5p seed sequence, alleviated cardiac remodeling in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrated that S1UTRSP5 blocked the function of miR-34a-5p and activated the SIRT1-PGC-1α-Nrf2 axis in cardiomyocytes, and promoted the SIRT1/Smad3 signal in cardiac fibroblasts and the SIRT1-eNOS-VEGFA axis in endothelial cells, collectively contributing to the amelioration of cardiac remodeling. These results provide new insights into the development of S1UTRSP5 as a novel inhibitor of miR-34a-5p for cardiac remodeling and HF.
Keywords: cardiac remodeling; microRNAs; 3′ untranslated region; SIRT1; human cardiac organoid

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