Expressions of plasma microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 in children with asthma exacerbation and its clinical significance / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the changes in plasma microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 in children with asthma exacerbation and its relationship with bronchial asthma.Methods From October 2012 to December 2013,48 children with asthma exacerbation from the Outpatient Department and the Inpatient Department in Houjie Hospital Affiliated to Guangdong Medical College were enrolled in the study (asthma group).Meanwhile,52 healthy children wcre selected as the healthy control group.The expression levels of plasma microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR).The content of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in plasma was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The predictive value of microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 in plasma to bronchial asthma was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.Results The relative expression levels of plasma microRNA-126 in the asthma group were upregulated compared with those in the healthy control group [7.36 (0.96-41.21) vs 3.68 (0.75-38.91),Z =3.135,P =0.038],and microRNA-1 relative expression levels in the asthma group were lower than those of the healthy control group [2.17 (0.18-26.97) vs 5.83 (0.82-39.62),Z =2.156,P =0.045].The content of IL-4 in asthma group was higher than those of the control group [(109.98 ± 74.58) ng/L vs (78.50 ± 75.82) ng/L,t =2.122,P =0.036],and the IFN-γ level in the asthma group was lower than those of the healthy control group [(70.49 ± 12.03) ng/L vs (77.03 ± 17.16) ng/L,t =2.270,P =0.025].In the plasma of patients with asthma exacerbation,the sensitivity of microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 was 85.42％ (41/48 cases)and 79.17％ (38/48 cases),respectively.The specificity of microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 in healthy controls was 78.85％ (41/52 cases) and 73.08％ (38/52 cases),respectively.The area under ROC curve of microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 was 0.919 (95％ CI 0.866-0.973),0.867 (95％ CI 0.796-0.939).Conclusions MicroRNA-126 is significantly elevated in plasma of children with asthma exacerbation.The plasma levels of microRNA-1 were significantly downregulated.These results suggest that microRNA-126 and microRNA-1 may be potential markers for the diagnosis of bronchial asthma.