Analysis of circulating microRNAs aberrantly expressed in alcohol-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head

Investigating the Differential Circulating microRNA Expression in Adolescent Females with Severe Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Proof-of-Concept Observational Clinical Study

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is the most common form of three-dimensional spinal disorder in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 years of age, most commonly diagnosed in young women when severe disease occurs. Patients with AIS are characterized by abnormal skeletal growth and reduced bone mineral density. The etiology of AIS is thought to be multifactorial, involving both environmental and genetic factors, but to date, it is still unknown. Therefore, it is crucial to further investigate the molecular pathogenesis of AIS and to identify biomarkers useful for predicting curve progression. In this perspective, the relative abundance of a panel of microRNAs (miRNAs) was analyzed in the plasma of 20 AIS patients and 10 healthy controls (HC). The data revealed a significant group of circulating miRNAs dysregulated in AIS patients compared to HC. Further bioinformatic analyses evidenced a more restricted expression of some miRNAs exclusively in severe AIS females. These include some members of the miR-30 family, which are considered promising regulators for treating bone diseases. We demonstrated circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) from severe AIS females contained miR-30 family members and decreased the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Proteomic analysis of EVs highlighted the expression of proteins associated with orthopedic disease. This study provides preliminary evidence of a miRNAs signature potentially associated with severe female AIS and suggests the corresponding vesicular component may affect cellular mechanisms crucial in AIS, opening the scenario for in-depth studies on prognostic differences related to gender and grade.

Circulating and extracellular vesicle-derived microRNAs as biomarkers in bone-related diseases

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate posttranscriptional gene expression by repressing messengerRNA-targets. MiRNAs are abundant in many cell types and are secreted into extracellular fluids, protected from degradation by packaging in extracellular vesicles. These circulating miRNAs are easily accessible, disease-specific and sensitive to small changes, which makes them ideal biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, predictive or monitoring purposes. Specific miRNA signatures can be reflective of disease status and development or indicators of poor treatment response. This is especially important in malignant diseases, as the ease of accessibility of circulating miRNAs circumvents the need for invasive tissue biopsy. In osteogenesis, miRNAs can act either osteo-enhancing or osteo-repressing by targeting key transcription factors and signaling pathways. This review highlights the role of circulating and extracellular vesicle-derived miRNAs as biomarkers in bone-related diseases, with a specific focus on osteoporosis and osteosarcoma. To this end, a comprehensive literature search has been performed. The first part of the review discusses the history and biology of miRNAs, followed by a description of different types of biomarkers and an update of the current knowledge of miRNAs as biomarkers in bone related diseases. Finally, limitations of miRNAs biomarker research and future perspectives will be presented.

Vitamin B2 Prevents Glucocorticoid-Caused Damage of Blood Vessels in Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a disorder that can cause collapse of the femoral head. The damage and dysfunction of femoral head microvascular endothelial cells are related to the pathogenesis of glucocorticoid-induced ONFH. Reports suggest that vitamin B₂ can promote osteoblast differentiation and prevent low bone mineral density and prevent reperfusion oxidative injury. To explore the effect and possible molecular mechanism of vitamin B₂ on the ONFH and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs), we performed a rat model of ONFH by dexamethasone. The rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group, vitamin B₂ group, dexamethasone group, and dexamethasone combined with vitamin B₂ treatment group. HUVECs were used to further prove the role and mechanism of vitamin B₂ in vitro. In patients, according to immunohistochemical and qRT-PCR of the femoral head, the angiogenic capacity of the ONFH femoral head is compromised. In vivo, it showed that vitamin B₂ could inhibit glucocorticoid-induced ONFH-like changes in rats by suppressing cell apoptosis, promoting the regeneration of blood vessels, and increasing bone mass. According to in vitro results, vitamin B₂ could induce the migration of HUVECs, enhance the expression of angiogenesis-related factors, and inhibit glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis. The underlying mechanism may be that vitamin B₂ activates the PI3K signaling pathway. Vitamin B₂ alleviated dexamethasone-induced ONFH, and vitamin B₂ could promote the proliferation and migration of HUVECs and inhibit their apoptosis by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Vitamin B₂ may be a potentially effective treatment for ONFH.

The polymorphisms of MIR31HG gene is correlated with alcohol-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head in Chinese Han male population

BACKGROUND

Alcoholic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a multifaceted illness that seriously disturbs the patients' quality of life. The role of lncRNAs in alcoholic ONFH has attracted widespread attention in recent years. This study mainly explored whether MIR31HG polymorphism affects the risk of ONFH.

METHODS

There were 733 males (308 alcohol-induced ONFH patients and 425 healthy controls). Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms from MIR31HG were genotyped using the Agena MassARRAY platform. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) via logistic regression was applied to assess the contribution of MIR31HG variants to alcoholic ONFH susceptibility.

RESULTS

We found that rs10965059 was related to a lower risk of alcoholic ONFH in the overall, age, and necrotic sites analysis. Rs10965064 also showed a risk-reducing effect in the occurrence of alcoholic ONFH patients older than 40 years old.

CONCLUSIONS

We confirmed that MIR31HG variants have a significant correlation with the occurrence of alcoholic ONFH among the Chinese Han male population. our findings may provide new ideas for understanding the effect of MIR31HG on the prevention and diagnosis of alcoholic ONFH.

Circular RNA circRAB31 acts as a miR-885-5psponge to suppress gastric cancer progressionvia the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway

Emerging evidence indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play essential roles in cancer progression. A large number of circRNAs have been reported to modulate cancer carcinogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms by which circRNAs regulate gastric cancer remain largely unclear. By using circRNA microarray, we identified that circRAB31 may serve as a tumor suppressor. circRAB31 was downregulated in gastric cancer tissues and gastric cancer cell lines compared with normal tissues and a human gastric epithelial cell line (GES-1). Overexpression of circRAB31 suppressed gastric cancer proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo, whereas silencing of circRAB31 had the opposite effects. Bioinformatic analysis as well as pull-down and luciferase assays revealed that circRAB31 exerted tumor-suppressive functions by binding directly to miR-885-5p. In addition, we demonstrated that circRAB31 could suppress PI3K/AKT signaling via the phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN)-a downstream target gene of miR-885-5p. In summary, our results demonstrated that circRAB31 could serve as a sponge of miR-885-5p to regulate gastric cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by affecting the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling.

Etiology of avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head

Avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is one of the causes of hip pain that clinicians need to know about. In many cases, it is a fortuitous discovery when pelvic X-rays is performed for another reason. In the other cases, pain reveals the disease. For the rheumatologist, a major part of the job is to look for a cause. An etiology can be found to ONFH in about 70% of the cases. Some of them are evident and the context give the diagnosis (corticosteroids, alcohol abuse…). However, in many cases, additional tests to imaging are required to make the causal diagnosis. In some cases, the treatment of the cause can prevent the recurrence of the disease.

The Impact of Melatonin and NLRP3 Inflammasome on the Expression of microRNAs in Aged Muscle

Muscular aging is a complex process and underlying physiological mechanisms are not fully clear. In recent years, the participation of the NF-kB pathway and the NLRP3 inflammasome in the chronic inflammation process that accompanies the skeletal muscle's aging has been confirmed. microRNAs (miRs) form part of a gene regulatory machinery, and they control numerous biological processes including inflammatory pathways. In this work, we studied the expression of four miRs; three of them are considered as inflammatory-related miRs (miR-21, miR-146a, and miR-223), and miR-483, which is related to the regulation of melatonin synthesis, among other targets. To investigate the changes of miRs expression in muscle along aging, the impact of inflammation, and the role of melatonin in aged skeletal muscle, we used the gastrocnemius muscle of wild type (WT) and NLRP3-knockout (NLRP3^-) mice of 3, 12, and 24 months-old, with and without melatonin supplementation. The expression of miRs and pro-caspase-1, caspase-3, pro-IL-1β, bax, bcl-2, and p53, was investigated by qRT-PCR analysis. Histological examination of the gastrocnemius muscle was also done. The results showed that age increased the expression of miR-21 (p < 0.01), miR-146a, and miR-223 (p < 0.05, for both miRs) in WT mice, whereas the 24-months-old mutant mice revealed decline of miR-21 and miR-223 (p < 0.05), compared to WT age. The lack of NLRP3 inflammasome also improved the skeletal muscle fibers arrangement and reduced the collagen deposits compared with WT muscle during aging. For the first time, we showed that melatonin significantly reduced the expression of miR-21, miR-146a, and miR-223 (p < 0.05 for all ones, and p < 0.01 for miR-21 at 24 months old) in aged WT mice, increased miR-223 in NLRP3^- mice (p < 0.05), and induced miR-483 expression in both mice strains, this increase being significant at 24 months of age.

β-ecdysone promotes osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

BACKGROUND

β-ecdysone (βEcd) has numerous pharmacological effects, although its role in the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) has not yet been explored.

METHODS

In cell experiments, BMSCs were induced to differentiate by osteogenic induction medium (OIM) or βEcd. In animal experiments, an osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) rat model was established using lipopolysaccharide plus methylprednisolone and treating the rats with βEcd. The osteogenic differentiation capacity of human BMSCs (hBMSCs) was analyzed by alkaline phosphatase and alizarin red S staining. Histopathological changes in rat femoral head tissues were observed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The expression levels of RUNX2, COL1A1, OCN and phosphorylated Akt in BMSCs from rat femoral head tissues were measured by a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction or western blot analysis.

RESULTS

Alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium nodules in the βEcd-treated BMSC group dose-dependently increased compared to those in the control and OIM groups. The hematoxylin and eosin staining results indicated that femoral head tissues of ONFH rats showed typical osteonecrosis, which could be ameliorated by βEcd. Western blot, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry assays demonstrated that the expression levels of RUNX2, COL1A1 and OCN in hBMSCs and femoral head tissue models were obviously increased after βEcd treatment, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Akt phosphorylation were also increased.

CONCLUSIONS

βEcd may be beneficial for the recovery of ONFH patients by accelerating osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, which may be a novel therapy for related diseases.

Urinary miRNAs as biomarkers for idiopathic osteonecrosis of femoral head: A multicentre study

Objectives

Urinary microRNAs (miRNAs) have shown great diagnostic and prognostic values for multiple diseases. The profile of urinary miRNAs in patients with idiopathic osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH) is currently unclear.

Methods

We first randomly chose ten patients with each Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) stage (I, II, III and IV) and ten healthy participants from the entire cohorts for initial screening. The miRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) array was then performed to identify the differentially abundant miRNAs in urine of these participants. We then verified the findings in the entire cohort. Clinical features including age, gender, bone mass index (BMI), lesion size and stages were recorded. We then analysed the association between the level of urinary miRNAs and clinical features.

Results

Our data indicated that there were 13 differentially abundant miRNAs among all groups. Urinary miR-150 demonstrated the highest diagnostic value among all candidates. Urinary miR-185 and miR-133a increased by ARCO staging. The levels of urinary miR-4824 abruptly decreased after femoral head collapse (ARCO stage III and IV). Urinary miR-144 was the only marker that correlated with lesion size.

Conclusions

The levels of urinary miRNAs are valuable biomarkers for idiopathic ONFH. Given the noninvasive nature of this test, it is potentially useful for diagnosis and monitoring of idiopathic ONFH progression.

The translational potential of this article

This article gives novel methods for ONFH diagnosis and progression monitoring in a convenient and non-invasive way.