microRNAs for peripheral blood fraction identification: Origin, pathways and forensic relevance

MicroRNAs as Potential Tools for Predicting Cancer Patients’ Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination Response

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that is caused by a highly contagious and severe acute respiratory syndrome—coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This infection started to spread across the world in 2019 and rapidly turned into a global pandemic, causing an urgent necessity for treatment strategies development. The mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 can trigger an immune response, providing genetic information that allows the production of spike glycoproteins. MiRNAs play a crucial role in diverse key cellular processes, including antiviral defense. Several miRNAs are described as key factors in SARS-CoV-2 human infection through the regulation of ACE2 levels and by the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 replication and spike expression. Consequently, these molecules have been considered as highly promising biomarkers. In numerous human malignancies, it has been recognized that miRNAs expression is dysregulated. Since miRNAs can target SARS-CoV-2-associated mRNAs, in cancer patients, the deregulation of these molecules can impair the immune response to the vaccines. Therefore, in this review, we propose a miRNA profile of seven SARS-CoV-2-related miRNAs, namely miR-214, miR-98-5p, miR-7-5p, miR-24-3p, miR-145-5p, miR-223-3p and miR-15b-5p, that are deregulated in a high number of cancers and have the potential to be used as prognostic biomarkers to stratify cancer patients.

Circulating microRNAs (miR-16, miR-22, miR-122) expression and early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Purpose

Circulating microRNA (miRNA) has been reported to have diagnostic value in multiple tumors. To identify serum miRNAs for early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we analyzed the differential miRNA expression between HCC patients and controls.

Methods

Real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) was carried out to detect serum miR‐16, miR‐22, and miR‐122 expression in 100 HCC patients and 100 controls (including hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis, liver metastases, hepatic hemangioma, health group, and each of them had 20 subjects). The miRNA expression results were combined with alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy in HCC through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. And the target genes were predicted through bioinformatics methods.

Results

Compared with controls, the expression of miR‐16 and miR‐122 significantly increased in early‐stage HCC patients, while no significant changes were detected in miR‐22. The ROC curve analysis demonstrated that miR‐16 and miR‐122 had a high diagnostic efficacy (AUC 0.798 and 0.759), and it was improved when combined with AFP (AUC 0.862). When compared with each of the five groups in the controls, the results showed that miR‐16 of HCC was significantly higher than liver cirrhosis (AUC 0.936), liver metastases, and health; miR‐122 was significantly higher than liver metastases, hepatitis B, and health. Moreover, 175 and 101 potential target genes were regulated by miR‐16 and miR‐122, respectively. And most of the target genes were enriched in the PI3K, MAPK, FoxO signaling pathways, and pathways in cancer.

Conclusion

Our findings illustrate that both circulating miR‐16 and miR‐122 can provide value for early diagnosis of HCC and they are potential biomarkers for the early‐stage HCC.

Expression and Biological Functions of miRNAs in Chronic Pain: A Review on Human Studies

Chronic pain is a major public health problem and an economic burden worldwide. However, its underlying pathological mechanisms remain unclear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression and serve key roles in physiological and pathological processes. This review aims to synthesize the human studies examining miRNA expression in the pathogenesis of chronic primary pain and chronic secondary pain. Additionally, to understand the potential pathophysiological impact of miRNAs in these conditions, an in silico analysis was performed to reveal the target genes and pathways involved in primary and secondary pain and their differential regulation in the different types of chronic pain. The findings, methodological issues and challenges of miRNA research in the pathophysiology of chronic pain are discussed. The available evidence suggests the potential role of miRNA in disease pathogenesis and possibly the pain process, eventually enabling this role to be exploited for pain monitoring and management.

A unique circulating miRNA profile highlights thrombo-inflammation in Behçet's syndrome

Objectives

Behçet’s syndrome (BS) is a rare systemic vasculitis often complicated by thrombotic events. Given the lack of validated biomarkers, BS diagnosis relies on clinical criteria.

In search of novel biomarkers for BS diagnosis, we determined the profile of plasmatic circulating microRNAs (ci-miRNAs) in patients with BS compared with healthy controls (HCs).

Methods

ci-miRNA profile was evaluated by microarray in a screening cohort (16 patients with BS and 18 HCs) and then validated by poly(T) adaptor PCR (PTA-PCR) in a validation cohort (30 patients with BS and 30 HCs). Two disease control groups (30 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 30 patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) were also analysed.

Results

From the microarray screening, 29 deregulated (differentially expressed (DE)) human ci-miRNAs emerged. A hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that DE ci-miRNAs clearly segregated patients from controls, independently of clinical features. PTA-PCR analysis on the validation cohort confirmed the deregulation of miR-224-5p, miR-206 and miR-653-5p. The combined receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses showed that such ci-miRNAs discriminate BS from HCs (and BS with active vs inactive disease), as well as BS from patients with SLE and GCA.

The functional annotation analyses (FAAs) showed that the most enriched pathways affected by DE ci-miRNAs (ie, cell–matrix interaction, oxidative stress and blood coagulation) are related to thrombo-inflammatory mechanisms. Accordingly, the expression of the three ci-miRNAs from the validation cohort significantly correlated with leucocyte reactive oxygen species production and plasma lipid peroxidation.

Conclusions

The ci-miRNA profile identified in this study may represent a novel, poorly invasive BS biomarker, while suggesting an epigenetic control of BS-related thrombo-inflammation.

The influence of lifestyle factors on miRNA expression and signal pathways: a review

The term 'lifestyle' includes different factors that contribute to the maintenance of a good health status. Increasing evidences suggest that lifestyle factors may influence epigenetic mechanisms, such as miRNAs expression. The dysregulation of miRNAs can modify the expression of genes and molecular pathways that may lead to functional alterations. This review summarizes human studies highlighting that diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption may affect the miRNA machinery and several biological functions. Most miRNAs are involved in molecular pathways that influence inflammation, cell cycle regulation and carcinogenesis resulting in the onset or progression of pathological conditions. Investigating these interactions will be pivotal for understanding the etiology of pathologic processes, the potential new treatment strategies and for preventing diseases.

MiRNA-Mediated Mechanisms of Cardiac Protection in Ischemic and Remote Ischemic Preconditioning-A Qualitative Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) and remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) protect myocardial tissue against subsequent ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI) and have a high potential to improve patient outcome. The mediators and mechanisms of protection through IPC and RIPC remain largely unknown, but micro-RNAs (miRNAs) are promising candidates.

METHODS

Systematic review of Medline and Embase databases for biomedical scientific literature.

RESULTS

A total of 26 relevant publications (21 full-text original articles and 5 conference abstracts) were identified, 8 describing cell culture experiments, 14 animal experiments, and 4 randomized clinical trials in humans. Most commonly reported miRNAs with differential expression between preconditioned and control groups include miR-1, miR-21, and miR-144. Experimental designs and procedures differ widely, thereby limiting the potential to compare results between studies. Two of the four RCTs did not find any differentially expressed miRNAs.

CONCLUSIONS

Results from RCTs should feed back into basic research and focused studies confirming or rejecting hypotheses generated by these RCTs are needed.

The Influence of Pre-Analytical Factors on the Analysis of Circulating MicroRNA

Background:

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are expected as useful biomarkers for various diseases. We studied the pre-analytical factors causing variation in the analysis of miRNA.

Material and Methods:

Blood samples were collected from 25 healthy subjects. Plasma and serum were obtained from the same samples. The levels of miR-451, -16, -126, and -223 were analyzed using RT-qPCR. Cel-miR-39 was added as a spiked-in control in each sample.

Results:

With the exception of miR-451, the levels of the miRNAs in plasma were higher than in serum. After high-speed centrifugation, the levels of miRNAs were almost equal between plasma and serum except for miR-451. Membrane filtration with 0.45 µm pore size reduced the levels of plasma miRNAs. The coagulation accelerators for serum processing did not affect the analysis of miRNA. The use of fraction containing particles of > 0.45 µm in size showed the inhibitory effect on the analysis of plasma miR-451. The RNase inhibitor was effective for protecting against the degradation of miRNAs.

Conclusion:

Plasma contains factors modifying miRNA profiles. The immediate processing of plasma with membrane filtration and RNase inhibitor may be a relevant method for achieving the stable analysis of miRNA

Massively parallel sequencing of microRNA in bloodstains and evaluation of environmental influences on miRNA candidates using realtime polymerase chain reaction

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small (22-24 nucleotides) non-coding RNAs with potential application in forensic science because of their anti-degradation property and tissue specificity. Recent studies on the use of miRNA in forensic applications have mainly focused on body fluid identification using realtime polymerase chain reaction or microarray analysis. However, the exploration of miRNA in bloodstains, which are the most valuable source of biological evidence during case investigations, is currently lacking, particularly for aged and environmentally compromised forensic samples. Recent developments in massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technology provide the opportunity to establish a whole-genome miRNA profile with high throughput and efficiency. However, MPS analysis of genome-wide miRNA profiles from bloodstains has not been reported to date. In this study, the whole-genome miRNA profiles of bloodstains were examined using MPS, revealing 633 known miRNAs and 266 novel miRNAs. To further explore the stability of miRNAs in bloodstains under various circumstances, the expression levels of six miRNAs (miR-16-5p, miR-20a-5p, miR-486-5p, miR-148a-3p, miR-151a-3p, and miR-451a) that were abundant in blood/bloodstains were examined. The results showed that freezing/thawing and a high concentration of oxidant solution affects the absolute expression of miRNA significantly, while storage for up to 5 months and a temperature of 37 °C did not have any observed effects. This study not only provides a novel method to explore miRNA profiles in bloodstains using MPS, but also points to the circumstantial influences on miRNA expression, which are an important consideration for practical application. Collectively, our work may shed light on MPS-based approaches with miRNA analysis of bloodstains in forensics.

Separation of Circulating MicroRNAs Using Apheresis in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are important inhibitors of mRNA translation, participate in differentiation, migration, cell proliferation, and cell death. The pathology of miRNAs results in alterations in protein expression. Recently, miRNAs circulating in peripheral blood have been shown to control the synthesis and translation of proteins at distal sites after intake into local cells. A number of studies are currently being conducted to investigate how to use miRNAs in disease treatment, but no studies have attempted to alleviate disease by directly eliminating miRNAs from blood. Therefore, we examined whether the removal or reduction of circulating miRNAs with apheresis improved pathologies caused by miRNAs. After approval of the study by our medical school's ethics committee, we collected blood and separated plasma samples from three patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who were undergoing plasmapheresis at our hospital. Peripheral blood was collected before and after it was passed through a primary membrane, centrifuged, and used to extract circulating miRNAs. A comprehensive expression analysis was then performed with a miRNA array chip. The levels of expression of a large number of circulating miRNAs were measured in the plasma samples separated by the primary membranes from all 3 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. We present the first report that circulating miRNAs in peripheral blood can be separated and possibly directly removed using membrane separation apheresis.

Targeting MicroRNA Function in Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common gastrointestinal disorder that featured by acute inflammatory responses leading to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) or multiple organ failure. A worldwide increase in annual incidence has been observed during the past decade with high acute hospitalization and mortality. Lack of any specific treatment for AP, even to this day, is a reminder that there is much to be learned about the exact pathogenesis of AP. Fortunately, the discovery of microRNA (miRNA) has started an entirely new thought process regarding the molecular mechanism associated with the disease processes. Given the extensive effort made on miRNA research, certain types of miRNA have been identified across a variety of biological processes, including cell differentiation, apoptosis, metabolism, and inflammatory responses. Mutations in miRNA sequences or deregulation of miRNA expression may contribute to the alteration of a pivotal physiological function leading to AP. Designing miRNA-related tools for AP diagnosis and treatment presents a novel and potential research frontier. In this mini-review, we summarize the current knowledge of various miRNAs closely interacting with AP and the possible development of targeted miRNA therapies in this disease, which may benefit the development of potential disease biomarkers and novel treatment targets for future medical implications.

miRNAs in nutrition, obesity, and cancer: The biology of miRNAs in metabolic disorders and its relationship with cancer development

SCOPE

The scope of this review is to explain how metabolic disorders originated by a deficient nutrition can develop into a neoplastic process by the alteration of epigenetic mechanisms like miRNAs. Obesity is a proinflammatory state with a wide impact on health around the world that is associated with neoplastic diseases. Epigenetic mechanisms have a central role in the obesogenic environment, which participates on the development of comorbidities such as cancer.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We made an exhaustive review of the most recent reports about metabolic disorders with nutrition and their relationship with miRNAs, and their risk of developing into oncogenic processes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as one of the major epigenetic mechanisms that can affect the metabolic reprogramming of cellular metabolism that plays an important role in the oncogenic process. There is evidence that some foods may contribute to diminishing the risk of cancer as well as epidemiological studies that support the notion that diets high in animal protein and fat promote cancer risk. Therefore, diets high in fruit and vegetables reduce the risk of cancer. One of the principal explanations is that these foods contain bioactive compounds that increase the efficacy of epigenetic mechanisms, which in turn decrease the risk of obesity and its comorbidities.

CONCLUSION

In this review, we show how miRNAs are implicated in several signaling pathways as well as illustrating some bioactive compounds that impact inflammation and cancer development.

Dysregulation of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 by Multiple miRNAs in Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells of Coronary Artery Disease

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) have the potential to be used in regenerative medicine. Dysfunction of ECFCs is correlated with the onset of cardiovascular disorders, especially coronary artery disease (CAD). Binding of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) triggers cell motility and angiogenesis of ECFCs, which are crucial to vascular repair.

METHODS

To identify the miRNA-VEGFR2-dependent regulation of ECFC functions, ECFCs isolated from peripheral blood of disease-free and CAD individuals were subjected to small RNA sequencing for identification of anti-VEGFR2 miRNAs. The angiogenic activities of the miRNAs were determined in both in vitro and in vivo mice models.

RESULTS

Three miRNAs, namely miR-410-3p, miR-497-5p, and miR-2355-5p, were identified to be upregulated in CAD-ECFCs, and VEGFR2 was their common target gene. Knockdown of these miRNAs not only restored the expression of VEGFR2 and increased angiogenic activities of CAD-ECFCs in vitro, but also promoted blood flow recovery in ischemic limbs in vivo. miR-410-3p, miR-497-5p, and miR-2355-5p could serve as potential biomarkers for CAD detection as they are highly expressed in the plasma of CAD patients.

CONCLUSIONS

This modulation could help develop new therapeutic modalities for cardiovascular diseases and other vascular dysregulated diseases, especially tumor angiogenesis.

Elevation of Circulating miR-210-3p in High-Altitude Hypoxic Environment

Background: The induction of miR-210-3p, a master hypoxamir, is a consistent feature of the hypoxic response in both normal and malignant cells. However, whether miR-210-3p acts as a circulating factor in response to a hypoxic environment remains unknown. The current study aimed to examine the effect of a high-altitude hypoxic environment on circulating miR-210-3p.

Methods: We examined and compared the levels of miR-210-3p using TaqMan-based qRT-PCR in both peripheral blood cells and plasma from 84 ethnic Chinese Tibetans residing at 3560 m, 46 newly arrived migrant Han Chinese (Tibet Han) and 82 Han Chinese residing at 8.9 m (Nanjing Han). Furthermore, we analyzed the correlations of miR-210-3p with hematological indices.

Results: The relative concentrations of miR-210-3p to internal reference U6 in blood cells were significantly higher in the Tibet Han group (1.01 ± 0.11, P < 0.001) and in the Tibetan group (1.17 ± 0.09, P < 0.001) than in the Nanjing Han group (0.51 ± 0.04). The absolute concentrations of plasma miR-210-3p were also markedly elevated in the Tibet Han group (503.54 ± 42.95 fmol/L, P = 0.004) and in the Tibetan group (557.78 ± 39.84 fmol/L, P < 0.001) compared to the Nanjing Han group (358.39 ± 16.16 fmol/L). However, in both blood cells and plasma, miR-210-3p levels were not significantly different between the Tibet Han group and the Tibetan group (P = 0.280, P = 0.620, respectively). Plasma miR-210-3p concentrations were positively correlated with miR-210-3p levels in blood cells (r = 0.192, P = 0.005). Furthermore, miR-210-3p levels in both blood cells and plasma showed strong positive correlations with red blood cell counts and hemoglobin and hematocrit values.

Conclusion: These data demonstrated, for the first time, that miR-210-3p might act as a circulating factor in response to hypoxic environments and could be associated with human adaptation to life at high altitudes.