ABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the expression levels and clinical significance of serum miRNAs, including miR-146a-5p, miR-155-5p and miR-124a-3p, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). @*Methods@#The clinical data, whole blood and serum samples from 39 RA patients hospitalized in our hospital during October 2016 and October 2018 were collected. Whole blood specimens were used to determine erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and serum samples were used to detect rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reaction protein (CRP) and miRNAs. The expression levels of serum miR-146a-5p, miR-155-5p and miR-124a-3p in RA patients were detected by SYBR Green real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. @*Results@#The expression levels of serum miR-146a-5p (1.742±1.058) in RA patients before treatment were significantly higher than that in healthy controls (HC, 1.045±0.772), which were positively correlated with DAS28 scores (r=0.836 5,P=0.004 5), ESR (r=0.437 2, P=0.032 5) and RF levels (r=0.733 6,P=0.013 7). However, the expression levels of serum miR-155-5p (U=42.00,P=0.032 9) and miR-124a-3p (U=44.5,P=0.044 5) in RA patients were significantly lower than that in HC, and the expression levels of serum miR-155-5p were negatively correlated with RF levels (r=-0.445 3,P=0.031 6), and the expression levels of serum miR-124a-3p were negatively correlated with DAS28 scores (r=-0.538 7,P=0.025 8) and RF levels (r=-0.436 5,P=0.046 3). After treatment, the expression levels of serum miR-146a-5p (U= 60.00,P=0.003 8) in RA patients were significantly decreased, while the expression levels of serum miR-155-5p (U=64.00,P=0.005 9) and miR-124a-3p (U=85.00,P=0.042 2) were significantly increased. @*Conclusion@#The abnormal expression levels of serum miR-146a-5p, miR-155-5p and miR-124a-3p in RA patients have potential clinical significance for the diagnosis of RA.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to compare the expression levels of serum miRNAs in diabetic retinopathy and type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Serum miRNA expression profiles from diabetic retinopathy cases (type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with diabetic retinopathy) and type 2 diabetes mellitus controls (type 2 diabetes mellitus patients without diabetic retinopathy) were examined by miRNA-specific microarray analysis. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to validate the significantly differentially expressed serum miRNAs from the microarray analysis of 45 diabetic retinopathy cases and 45 age-, sex-, body mass index- and duration-of-diabetes-matched type 2 diabetes mellitus controls. The relative changes in serum miRNA expression levels were analyzed using the 2-ΔΔCt method. RESULTS: A total of 5 diabetic retinopathy cases and 5 type 2 diabetes mellitus controls were included in the miRNA-specific microarray analysis. The serum levels of miR-3939 and miR-1910-3p differed significantly between the two groups in the screening stage; however, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction did not reveal significant differences in miRNA expression for 45 diabetic retinopathy cases and their matched type 2 diabetes mellitus controls. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that miR-3939 and miR-1910-3p may not play important roles in the development of diabetic retinopathy; however, studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm our findings.