Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 13;24(2):1572. doi: 10.3390/ijms24021572.
The aim of this study was to assess the interrelation between vascular ultrasonography (US) findings, histopathological data, and the expression of selected dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) in giant cell arteritis (GCA). The study included data on the clinical parameters, US measurements, and temporal artery biopsies (TABs) of 46 treatment-naïve patients diagnosed with GCA and 22 age-matched non-GCA patient controls. We performed a comprehensive comparative and correlation analysis along with generation of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to ascertain the diagnostic performance of US examination parameters and selected miRNAs for GCA diagnosis. We showed significant differences in the US-measured intima-media thickness of the temporal arteries, the presence of a halo sign, and the presence of luminal stenosis between GCA-positive/TAB-positive, GCA-positive/TAB-negative, and non-GCA patients. Correlation analysis revealed significant associations between several histopathological parameters, US-measured intima-media thickness, and the halo sign. We found that the significant overexpression of miR-146b-5p, miR-155-5p, miR-511-5p, and miR-21-5p, and the under-expression of the miR-143/145 cluster, miR-30a-5p, and miR-125a-5p, coincides and is associated with the presence of a halo sign in patients with GCA. Notably, we determined a high diagnostic performance of miR-146b-5p, miR-21-3p, and miR-21-5p expression profiles in discriminating GCA patients from non-GCA controls, suggesting their potential utilization as putative biomarkers of GCA. Taken together, our study provides an insight into the US-based diagnostic evaluation of GCA by revealing the complex interrelation of clearly defined image findings with underlying vascular immunopathology and altered arterial tissue-specific miRNA profiles.
本研究旨在评估巨细胞动脉炎(GCA)中血管超声(US)表现、组织病理学数据和选定失调 microRNA(miRNA)表达之间的相互关系。该研究纳入了 46 例未经治疗的 GCA 患者和 22 例年龄匹配的非 GCA 患者的临床参数、US 测量值和颞动脉活检(TAB)数据。我们进行了全面的对比和相关性分析,并生成了接收者操作特征(ROC)曲线,以确定 US 检查参数和选定 miRNA 对 GCA 诊断的诊断性能。我们发现,GCA 阳性/TAB 阳性、GCA 阳性/TAB 阴性和非 GCA 患者之间,颞动脉的 US 测量内膜中层厚度、晕征的存在以及管腔狭窄存在显著差异。相关性分析显示,几种组织病理学参数、US 测量的内膜中层厚度和晕征之间存在显著相关性。我们发现,miR-146b-5p、miR-155-5p、miR-511-5p 和 miR-21-5p 的显著过表达,以及 miR-143/145 簇、miR-30a-5p 和 miR-125a-5p 的表达下调,与 GCA 患者中晕征的存在相一致,并与其相关。值得注意的是,我们确定了 miR-146b-5p、miR-21-3p 和 miR-21-5p 表达谱在区分 GCA 患者和非 GCA 对照组方面具有较高的诊断性能,表明它们可能作为 GCA 的潜在生物标志物。总之,我们的研究通过揭示明确的影像学表现与潜在血管免疫病理学和动脉组织特异性 miRNA 谱改变之间的复杂相互关系,为基于 US 的 GCA 诊断评估提供了新的见解。