Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
Department of Biotechnology, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, Taiwan.
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2020 Oct 1;21(10):2817-2821. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2020.21.10.2817.
Bone marrow fluid (BMF) consists of various components that establishes a microenvironment for cell differentiation and remodeling. MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) levels have recently emerged as novel biomarkers for different diseases. However, the conventional RNU6B (U6), used as the reference for intracellular miRNA, may not be appropriate for the normalization of circulating miRNAs.
We measured the levels of U6, spiked-in RNA, and miR-21 in the BMF of 13 healthy controls and 37 patients with hematological disorders to investigate the reliability of either U6 or spike-in RNA as an endogenous reference and also to study the correlation between miR-21, hematological disorders and mortality.
Notably, the levels of U6 demonstrated a high variability in BMF of healthy controls and patients. In contrast, the levels of spiked-in RNA displayed a significantly higher stability in both cohorts. Compared with controls, the levels of miR-21 were significantly upregulated in BMF of patients with leukemia but not lymphoma. Also, using 21 as the cut-off value of miR-21, it differentiated the mortality of patients with hematologic disorders.
Collectively, using spiked-in RNA as a reference the upregulated miR-21 levels in BMF could be an indicator of the diagnosis of leukemia and a predictor of mortality.
骨髓液（BMF）由各种成分组成，为细胞分化和重塑建立了一个微环境。微小 RNA-21（miR-21）水平最近作为不同疾病的新型生物标志物出现。然而，作为细胞内 miRNA 参考的常规 RNU6B（U6）可能不适用于循环 miRNA 的标准化。
我们测量了 13 名健康对照者和 37 名血液系统疾病患者的 BMF 中的 U6、添加 RNA 和 miR-21 的水平，以研究 U6 或添加 RNA 作为内参的可靠性，并研究 miR-21、血液系统疾病和死亡率之间的相关性。
值得注意的是，U6 的水平在健康对照者和患者的 BMF 中表现出高度的可变性。相比之下，添加 RNA 的水平在两个队列中都表现出明显更高的稳定性。与对照组相比，白血病患者 BMF 中的 miR-21 水平显著上调，但淋巴瘤患者则没有。此外，使用 21 作为 miR-21 的截止值，可以区分血液系统疾病患者的死亡率。
总之，使用添加 RNA 作为参考，BMF 中上调的 miR-21 水平可能是白血病诊断的指标和死亡率的预测因子。
