Expression and clinical significance of serum miRNAs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 临床检验杂志

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.