ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the expression levels of serum miR-126 and miR-9 in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) and their relationship with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and central macular thickness (CMT).Methods:A total of 73 wAMD patients(observation group) admitted to the ophthalmology department of Taizhou Municipal Hospital from May 2020 to May 2021 and 60 healthy subjects (control group) who underwent physical examination during the same period were selected. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of miR-126 and miR-9 in serum of the two groups. Serum angiogenesis regulatory factors [VEGF, tissue inhibitor of melalloproteinuses-1 (TIMP-1), endostatin (ES), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)] were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and CMT and intraocular pressure (IOP) were measured. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the correlation between miR-126 and miR-9 and serum angiogenesis regulatory factor levels, CMT and IOP. The diagnostic value of miR-126 and miR-9 in wAMD was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results:The relative expression level of serum miR-126 in observation group was significantly lower than that in control group ( P<0.05) , while the relative expression level of serum miR-9 was significantly higher than that in control group ( P<0.05). The levels of serum VEGF and PDGF in observation group were significantly higher than those in control group (all P<0.05), while the levels of serum TIMP-1 and ES were significantly lower than those in control group (all P<0.05). CMT and IOP in observation group were significantly higher than those in control group (all P<0.05). The expression level of serum miR-126 in observation group was negatively correlated with serum VEGF, PDGF, CMT and IOP ( r=-0.275, -0.523, -0.302, -0.542, all P<0.05), and was positively correlated with TIMP-1 and ES ( r=0.460, 0.263, all P<0.05). Serum miR-9 expression level was positively correlated with serum VEGF, PDGF, CMT and IOP ( r=0.434, 0.438, 0.396, 0.307, all P<0.05), and was negatively correlated with TIMP-1 and ES ( r=-0.256, -0.310, all P<0.05). The area under curve (AUC) values of serum miR-126 and miR-9 in diagnosing wAMD were 0.713 and 0.847 respectively. Conclusions:The expression level of serum miR-126 is significantly decreased while the expression level of miR-9 is significantly increased in patients with wAMD. miR-126 is negatively correlated with VEGF and CMT, and miR-9 is positively correlated with VEGF and CMT, which may aggravate the disease by promoting the inflammatory response. The detection of expression levels of serum miR-126 and miR-9 is helpful to provide the reference basis for early diagnosis of wAMD and early prevention and treatment.