Single-nucleotide polymorphism of the pri-miR-34b/c gene is not associated with susceptibility to congenital heart disease in the Han Chinese population

APRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis determining the association of miRNA polymorphisms and risk of congenital heart disease

PURPOSE

Recent genetic association studies showed conflicting results on the relationship of miRNA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and congenital heart disease (CHD) risk. The purpose of the present systematic review was to collect the current available evidences to evaluate the association between miRNA polymorphisms and CHD risk.

METHODS

Four electronic databases including PubMed, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, and CENTRAL were extensively searched for relevant studies published before February, 2019. Observational studies determining the association between miRNA polymorphisms and risk of CHD were included. Risk of bias was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale by 2 independent researchers. Major characteristics of each study and estimation of effect size of individual locus polymorphism were summarized. In addition, meta-analysis was performed to quantify the associations between miRNA polymorphisms and CHD risk.

RESULTS

Nine studies containing 6502 CHD patients and 6969 healthy controls were included in this systematic review. Ten loci in 9 miRNAs were reported. Only rs11614913 in miR-196a2 was determined to have significant associations with CHD susceptibility, which was supported by meta-analysis (CC vs CT+TT: odds ratio 1.54, 95% confidence interval 1.30, 1.82; P < .00001). A strong evidence indicated lack of association between rs2910164 in miR-146a and CHD. Limited or conflicting evidences were found for the associations of the other variants (rs11134527, rs139365823, rs76987351, rs3746444, rs4938723, rs2292832, rs41291957, rs895819) and risk of CHD.

CONCLUSIONS

Locus polymorphisms in miRNAs are not generally associated with CHD. Only rs11614913 was found to have significant associations with CHD. Further studies will be needed, using larger populations of different ethnicities, to obtain a better understanding of these associations.

HDL protects against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury via miR-34b and miR-337 expression which requires STAT3

Purpose

High density lipoprotein (HDL) protects against myocardial infarction via mechanisms that remain unclear. STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) plays a key role in HDL-induced cardioprotection. In the heart, microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in ischemia reperfusion injury. We therefore investigated whether the cardioprotective effect of HDL modulates miRNAs as a downstream target of STAT3 activation.

Methods

STAT3 cardiomyocyte deficient mice (STAT3-KO) and wildtype littermates (STAT3-WT) were submitted to left coronary ligature and reperfused (IR) with or without injection of HDL. Infarct size (IS) was determined and cardiac miRNA expression was evaluated after reperfusion in sham, IR and IR+HDL hearts by microarray analysis.

In vitro, neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes were submitted to hypoxia with or without HDL incubation. Cell viability and miRNA expression were analysed.

Results

In vivo, HDL reduced IS from 40.5±4.3% to 24.4±2.1% (p<0.05) in STAT3-WT mice. HDL failed to protect in STAT3-KO mice. In STAT3-WT mice, both miR-34b and miR-337 were increased in IR compared to sham and IR+HDL groups (p<0.05). These miRNAs were not modulated in STAT3-KO mice. In vitro, incubation with HDL improved cell viability against hypoxia (p<0.05). The expression of miR-34b and miR-337 was increased by hypoxia and reduced by HDL treatment (p<0.05). In cardiomyocytes transfected with miRNA mimics, HDL failed to improve cell viability against hypoxia.

Conclusions

Our study, performed both in vivo and in vitro, delineates a novel cardioprotective signalling pathway activated by HDL, involving STAT3-mediated decrease of miR-34b and miR-337 expression.

miRNA Polymorphisms and Risk of Cardio-Cerebrovascular Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Recently extensive focus has been concentrated on the role of miRNAs in the initiation and progression of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CCDs) which constitute a range of conditions including cardiovascular diseases (CVDs, especially coronary artery disease (CAD)), congenital heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular diseases (CBVDs, especially the ischemic stroke (IS)). An increasing number of studies are evaluating the association between different miRNA polymorphisms and risk of CCDs, but results have been inconclusive. This study represents a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between miRNA polymorphisms and risk of CCDs. PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were queried to identify eligible articles. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the association of miRNA polymorphisms with CCD susceptibility. A total of 51 eligible articles evaluating the association of 31 miRNA polymorphisms were identified. Meta-analysis was performed for six miRNA polymorphisms. miR-146a rs2910164 (30 studies: 13,186 cases/14,497 controls), miR-149 rs2292832 (Nine studies: 4116 cases/3511 controls), miR-149 rs71428439 (Three studies: 1556 cases/1567 controls), miR-196a2 rs11614913 (20 studies: 10,144 cases/10,433 controls), miR-218 rs11134527 (Three studies: 2,322 cases/2,754 controls) were not associated with overall CCD. miR-499 rs3746444 was associated with CCD (20 studies: 9564 cases/8876 controls). In the subgroups, rs2910164 and rs3746444 were only associated with CVDs, especially CAD. In conclusion, the results support the existence of a role for miR-146a rs2910164 and miR-499 rs3746444 in determining susceptibility to CCDs, especially CAD.