Hsa-miR-584-5p as a novel candidate biomarker in Turkish men with severe coronary artery disease

Investigation of miR-26a-5p and miR-19a-3p expression levels in angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease

BACKGROUND

MicroRNAs have been found to have an essential role in cardiovascular diseases. In previous experiments, the changed expressions of miR-26a-5p and miR-19a-3p were confirmed in patients with severe coronary atherosclerosis by miRNA microarrays. However, the role of two miRNAs in coronary artery diseases (CAD) still needs to be investigated further. Our current study aimed to analyse two miRNAs in angiographically confirmed CAD and non-CAD with insignificant coronary stenosis. This study aimed to identify the potential diagnostic value of circulating miRNA with CAD.

METHODS

The CAD patients (n = 50) and non-CAD controls (n = 43) were studied. miRNAs (miR-26a-5p and miR-19a-3p) were quantified by TaqMan miRNA assays using real-time PCR. We subsequently assessed the diagnostic value of the miRNAs and correlations of miRNA with clinical parameters. Target prediction tools were utilised to identify miRNA target genes.

RESULTS

The expression of miR-26a-5p was significantly increased in CAD compared to non-CAD controls (p < 0.05). Tertile groups were formed according to the expression levels of miRNAs, and high expression tertile (T3) was compared with low expression tertile (T1). It was found that CAD presence was more prevalent in T3 of miR-26a-5p, and the frequency of diabetes was higher in T3 of miR-19a-3p. There were significant correlations between miRNAs and diabetes risk factors such as HbA1c, glucose levels, and BMI (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings show that miR-26a-5p expression is altered in CAD presence while miR-19a-3p expression is different in diabetes. Both miRNAs are closely related to risk factors of CAD, therefore, could be therapeutic targets for CAD treatment.

Plasma Exosomal S1PR5 and CARNS1 as Potential Non-invasive Screening Biomarkers of Coronary Heart Disease

Background

Early diagnosis and treatment significantly improve the prognosis of coronary heart disease (CHD), but no convenient screening tools are available. This study aims to find potential non-invasive screening biomarkers of coronary heart disease.

Method

We performed microarray analysis to investigate the mRNA expression levels in Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and screen significantly differentially expressed mRNAs in CHD patients vs. non-CHD patients. We then performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to validate the microarray results, and we calculated the correlations between expression levels and clinicopathological data. Microarray analysis identified 72 downregulated mRNAs and 31 upregulated mRNAs in CHD patients relative to non-CHD patients.

Results

From the study, we found that upregulated sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 5 (S1PR5) and downregulated carnosine synthase 1 (CARNS1) had the most significant differences between the patient group and the control group. S1PR5 expression was correlated with diabetes, heart rate, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and fasting blood glucose (P < 0.05). CARNS1 level was correlated with uric acid (UA) (P < 0.05). Overexpressed S1PR5 and downregulated CARNS1 were independent risk factors for CHD. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of S1PR5 was 0.838 for diagnosing CHD; the AUC of CARNS1 was 0.883 for non-CHD; and the AUC of S1PR5 plus CARNS1 was 0.921 for CHD.

Conclusions

Microarray analysis showed that upregulated S1PR5 and downregulated CARNS1 in sEVs have the potential to become non-invasive biomarkers for CHD screening.

Integrated bioinformatics analysis of validated and circulating miRNAs in ovarian cancer

Recent studies have focused on the early detection of ovarian cancer (OC) using tumor materials by liquid biopsy. The mechanisms of microRNAs (miRNAs) to impact OC and signaling pathways are still unknown. This study aims to reliably perform functional analysis of previously validated circulating miRNAs' target genes by using pathfindR. Also, overall survival and pathological stage analyses were evaluated with miRNAs' target genes which are common in the The Cancer Genome Atlas and GTEx datasets. Our previous studies have validated three downregulated miRNAs (hsa-miR-885-5p, hsa-miR-1909-5p, and hsalet7d-3p) having a diagnostic value in OC patients' sera, with high-throughput techniques. The predicted target genes of these miRNAs were retrieved from the miRDB database (v6.0). Active-subnetwork-oriented Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis was conducted by pathfindR using the target genes. Enrichment of KEGG pathways assessed by the analysis of pathfindR indicated that 24 pathways were related to the target genes. Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, spliceosome and Notch signaling pathway were the top three pathways with the lowest p-values (p < 0.001). Ninety-three common genes were found to be differentially expressed (p < 0.05) in the datasets. No significant genes were found to be significant in the analysis of overall survival analyses, but 24 genes were found to be significant with pathological stages analysis (p < 0.05). The findings of our study provide in-silico evidence that validated circulating miRNAs' target genes and enriched pathways are related to OC and have potential roles in theranostics applications. Further experimental investigations are required to validate our results which will ultimately provide a new perspective for translational applications in OC management.

CircPITX1 Regulates Proliferation, Angiogenesis, Migration, Invasion, and Cell Cycle of Human Glioblastoma Cells by Targeting miR-584-5p/KPNB1 Axis

Recent researches reported that several circular RNAs (circRNAs) were associated with the glioblastoma (GBM) progression, while the regulatory role of circPITX1 remains unknown in GBM. The real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to quantify circPITX1, miR-584-5p, and karyopherin b1 (KPNB1) expression in GBM tissues and cells. The proliferation capability of cells was analyzed by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and colony-forming assays. The matrigel angiogenesis assay was used to assess tube formation in GBM cells. Flow cytometry assays were conducted to evaluate the cell cycle distribution of GBM cells. The migration and invasion assays were assessed by transwell assay. The Western blot assay was employed to quantify the protein expression level in GBM tissues and cells. The targets of circPITX1 and miR-584-5p were confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assays. A xenograft experiment in nude mice was used to assess the functional role of circPITX1 in vivo. CircPITX1 was obviously overexpressed in GBM tissues and cells when compared with negative groups. The functional experiment implied that knockdown of circPITX1 suppressed proliferation, angiogenesis, migration, invasion, and tumor growth in vivo along with induced cell cycle arrest of GBM cells. Furthermore, miR-584-5p was a target gene of circPITX1, and knockdown of miR-584-5p could abolish circPITX1 silencing-induced effects on GBM cells. KPNB1 was a target gene of miR-584-5p, and functional experiments revealed that overexpression of miR-584-5p repressed proliferation, angiogenesis, migration, invasion, and cell cycle process in GBM cells by targeting KPNB1. Mechanistically, circPITX1/miR-584-5p/KPNB1 axis regulated GBM process via mediating proliferation, angiogenesis, migration, invasion, and cell cycle process of GBM cells.

Recent Highlights of Research on miRNAs as Early Potential Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its complications pose a serious threat to the life and health of patients around the world. The most dangerous complications of this disease are vascular complications. Microvascular complications of T2DM include retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. In turn, macrovascular complications include coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, and cerebrovascular disease. The currently used diagnostic methods do not ensure detection of the disease at an early stage, and they also do not predict the risk of developing specific complications. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, endogenous, noncoding molecules that are involved in key processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Recent research has assigned them an important role as potential biomarkers for detecting complications related to diabetes. We suggest that utilizing miRNAs can be a routine approach for early diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and may enable the development of better therapeutic approaches. In this paper, we conduct a review of the latest reports demonstrating the usefulness of miRNAs as biomarkers in the vascular complications of T2DM.

Association study of hsa_circ_0001946, hsa-miR-7-5p and PARP1 in coronary atherosclerotic heart disease

BACKGROUND

Our previous work identified an aberrant expression of hsa_circ_0001946 in coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD). Here we aimed to verify the role of hsa_circ_0001946 as a biomarker for CHD, and explore the clues of its downstream regulation.

METHODS

The hsa_circ_0001946 expression in CHD patients (n = 120) and controls (n = 120) were confirmed with qRT-PCR. CircBank and miRDB were used for target analysis in silico. Spearman correlation test was performed to infer potential interrelationships among the nucleic acid molecular biomarkers, and their predictive abilities were examined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.

RESULTS

Hsa_circ_0001946 was validated to be significantly up-regulated in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of CHD patients, and revealed as an independent indicator of increased CHD risk (odds ratio: 2.364; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.765-3.165) after adjusting for confounding factors. Hsa-miR-7-5p was found to own the largest number of binding sites in has_circ_0001946 sequence, and among its targets predicted, the poly ADP-ribose polymerase 1 (PARP1) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of CHD. Spearman analysis indicated negative correlations of hsa-miR-7-5p with hsa_circ_0001946 and PARP1, respectively; while hsa_circ_0001946 was positively correlated with PARP1. The prediction accuracy of hsa_circ_0001946 in CHD was evaluated, showing an area under the ROC curve of 0.897 (95% CI: 0.791-0.961), which could further increase to 0.957 (95% CI: 0.870-0.992) upon a combination of hsa-miR-7-5p and PARP1.

CONCLUSION

The present work demonstrated the predictive power of hsa_circ_0001946, hsa-miR-7-5p and PARP1 as combined biomarkers for CHD, and suggests a regulatory axis they consisted might contribute to the CHD development.

Diagnostic Value of miR-103 in Patients with Sepsis and Noninfectious SIRS and Its Regulatory Role in LPS-Induced Inflammatory Response by Targeting TLR4

Background

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition and a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) driven by infection. This study aimed at investigating the expression of microRNA-103 (miR-103) in sepsis patients, evaluating its diagnostic value, and exploring the regulatory effect of miR-103 on LPS-induced inflammation in monocytes.

Methods

Expression of miR-103 was measured using quantitative real-time PCR. A receiver operating characteristics curve was plotted to evaluate the diagnostic vale of miR-103. Serum and cell supernatant levels of proinflammatory cytokines were analyzed using ELISA. The interaction between miR-103 and Toll-like receptors 4 (TLR4) was analyzed using luciferase reporter assay. The effect of miR-103 on inflammation was examined in LPS-treated monocytes.

Results

Serum expression of miR-103 was decreased in noninfectious SIRS and sepsis patients compared with healthy controls, and the lowest expression value was observed in sepsis patients (all P < 0.05). Serum levels of miR-103 have considerable diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing sepsis patients from SIRS patients and healthy controls. A negative correlation was found between miR-103 and inflammatory responses in sepsis patients. TLR4 was demonstrated to be a direct target of miR-103 and was negatively regulated by miR-103 in monocytes. The promoted inflammatory responses by LPS in monocytes were reversed by the overexpression of miR-103.

Conclusion

All the data revealed that serum decreased miR-103 in sepsis patients serves as a promising noninvasive diagnostic biomarker and may be involved in the pathogenesis of sepsis by regulating inflammatory responses via targeting TLR4.