Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Université de Moncton, 18 Antonine-Maillet Avenue, Moncton, New Brunswick E1A 3E9, Canada.
Atlantic Cancer Research Institute, Pavillon Hôtel-Dieu, 35 Providence Street, Moncton, New Brunswick E1C 8X3, Canada.
Brain Res. 2019 Apr 1;1708:100-108. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.12.016. Epub 2018 Dec 12.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with the progressive death of motor neurons. Mean survival for a patient diagnosed with ALS is between 2 and 5 years. Early and efficient diagnosis of the various forms of ALS remains a significant challenge, resulting in a need to identify clinically-relevant biomarkers in readily accessible body fluids. microRNAs (miRNAs) are short, evolutionarily conserved non-coding RNA molecules involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression that have received interest as disease biomarkers. This study was undertaken to identify an ALS-associated miRNA signature in extracellular vesicles (EVs), which can cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the circulatory system, obtained from plasma samples of persons diagnosed and living with ALS (PALS). Next-generation sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed miRNAs recovered from EVs of PALS and healthy controls. High-throughput sequencing data for select miRNA targets was subsequently validated by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). This approach revealed elevated levels of 5 miRNAs and reduced levels of 22 miRNAs in EVs collected from PALS as compared with healthy controls subjects. miRNAs with relevance to ALS were found to be deregulated, including miR-9-5p, miR-183-5p, miR-338-3p and miR-1246. MiR-15a-5p and miR-193a-5p were identified for their diagnostic potential of ALS and association with disability progression, respectively. Functional assessment of transcripts targeted by select ALS-associated miRNAs revealed processes such as transcriptional regulation and protein ubiquitination. These data identify an ALS-associated miRNAs signature in EVs of PALS and further strengthen the potential diagnostic relevance of these small molecules for this condition.
肌萎缩侧索硬化症(ALS)是一种与运动神经元进行性死亡相关的神经退行性疾病。被诊断患有 ALS 的患者的平均存活时间为 2 至 5 年。早期和有效地诊断各种形式的 ALS 仍然是一个重大挑战,因此需要在易于获得的体液中识别具有临床相关性的生物标志物。 microRNAs(miRNAs)是短的、进化上保守的非编码 RNA 分子,参与基因表达的转录后调控,作为疾病生物标志物引起了关注。本研究旨在鉴定从被诊断为肌萎缩侧索硬化症(ALS)并患有该疾病的人(PALS)的血浆样本中分离出的细胞外囊泡(EVs)中的 ALS 相关 miRNA 特征。使用下一代测序技术来鉴定从 PALS 和健康对照的 EV 中恢复的差异表达 miRNA。随后通过液滴数字 PCR(ddPCR)验证选定 miRNA 靶标的高通量测序数据。与健康对照组相比,该方法显示来自 PALS 的 EV 中 5 种 miRNA 的水平升高,22 种 miRNA 的水平降低。与 ALS 相关的 miRNA 被发现失调,包括 miR-9-5p、miR-183-5p、miR-338-3p 和 miR-1246。miR-15a-5p 和 miR-193a-5p 分别因其作为 ALS 的诊断潜力和与残疾进展的相关性而被鉴定出来。对选定与 ALS 相关的 miRNA 靶向的转录本的功能评估揭示了转录调节和蛋白质泛素化等过程。这些数据鉴定了 PALS 的 EV 中与 ALS 相关的 miRNAs 特征,并进一步加强了这些小分子对该疾病的潜在诊断相关性。
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