Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Østfold Hospital Trust, Grålum, Norway.
Department of Work Psychology and Physiology, National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway.
Arthritis Res Ther. 2019 Aug 13;21(1):186. doi: 10.1186/s13075-019-1967-y.
Previous studies suggest that regulatory microRNAs (miRs) may modulate neuro-inflammatory processes. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of miR-17 following intervertebral disc herniation.
In a cohort of 97 patients with leg pain and disc herniation verified on MRI, we investigated the association between circulating miR-17 and leg pain intensity. A rat model was used to examine possible changes in miR-17 expression in nucleus pulposus (NP) associated with leak of NP tissue out of the herniated disc. The functional role of miR-17 was addressed by transfection of miR-17 into THP-1 cells (human monocyte cell line).
An association between the level of miR-17 in serum and the intensity of lumbar radicular pain was shown. Up-regulation of miR-17 in the rat NP tissue when applied onto spinal nerve roots and increased release of TNF following transfection of miR-17 into THP-1 cells were also observed. Hence, our data suggest that miR-17 may be involved in the pathophysiology underlying lumbar radicular pain after disc herniation.
We conclude that miR-17 may be associated with the intensity of lumbar radicular pain after disc herniation, possibly through a TNF-driven pro-inflammatory mechanism.
先前的研究表明，调节 microRNAs（miRs）可能调节神经炎症过程。本研究的目的是研究 miR-17 在后椎间盘突出症中的作用。
在 97 例 MRI 证实有腿痛和椎间盘突出的患者队列中，我们研究了循环 miR-17 与腿痛强度之间的关联。使用大鼠模型研究 NP 组织漏出突出椎间盘后 NP 中 miR-17 表达的可能变化。通过将 miR-17 转染到 THP-1 细胞（人单核细胞系）中来研究 miR-17 的功能作用。
显示血清中 miR-17 的水平与腰椎神经根痛的强度之间存在关联。在将 miR-17 施加到脊神经根上时，大鼠 NP 组织中 miR-17 的上调以及转染 miR-17 后 THP-1 细胞中 TNF 的释放增加也观察到。因此，我们的数据表明，miR-17 可能参与椎间盘突出症后腰椎神经根痛的病理生理学。
我们得出结论，miR-17 可能与椎间盘突出症后腰椎神经根痛的强度有关，可能通过 TNF 驱动的促炎机制。
