Changes of serum miR-375 and blood target genes in patients with allergic rhinitis before and after treatment and its significance / 中南大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

To explore the changes of serum miR-375 and its target genes in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) before and after treatment and its significance.
 Methods: A total of 120 AR patients treated in Wuhan Fourth Hospital were selected as an observation group (AR group), and 120 healthy volunteers served as a control group. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression changes of miR-375 and its predicted target genes, such as 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1), protein kinase B (AKT1), Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), as well as inflammatory factors, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interleukin-13 (IL-13) in the AR group before and after treatment. According to the relative expression levels of miR-375 and target genes, the AR patients were also subdivided into a high expression group and a low expression group for comparative analysis.
 Results: Before treatment, the level of miR-375 in the serum in the AR group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01); the expressions of PDK1, AKT1, JAK2 and STAT3 in the plasma in the AR group were lower than those in the control group (all P<0.01); the plasma levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-13 in the AR group were higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05). After treatment, compared with the control group, the level of miR-375 in the serum was down-regulated (P<0.01), while the levels of target genes (PDK1, AKT1, JAK2 and STAT3) were up-regulated (all P<0.05), and the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-13 were down-regulated in the AR group (all P<0.05). The total effective rate, total nasal symptom score (TNSS), symptom improvement time, and incidence of adverse reactions in the AR groups with high expression of miR-375 and low expression of target genes before treatment were better than those in the correspending groups with low expression of miR-375 and high expression of target genes (all P<0.05).
 Conclusion: MiR-375 might be a potential predictor of treatment response for AR patient, which might be related to the plasma levels of its target genes and inflammatory factors.