Medical University-Sofia, Department of Rheumatology, Clinic of Rheumatology, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Medical University-Sofia, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Medicine Center, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2023 Aug;41(8):1688-1694. doi: 10.55563/clinexprheumatol/165gj5. Epub 2023 Aug 3.
The aim of our study was to evaluate the expression levels of miR-21 and miR-29a in the serum of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients and to determine their correlation with clinical and immunological parameters.
34 patients fulfilling the ACR/EULAR 2013 classification criteria for SSc were included in the study. miR-21 and miR-29a expression levels in the serum were determined by PCR (SYBR Green technology). 2-ΔΔCt method was used for analysis. 14 healthy donors were used as controls (HCs).
Expression levels of miR-21 were upregulated in the serum of 17 (50.0%) of the patients. The expression of miR-29a was downregulated in 15 (44.12%) of the SSc patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the expression levels of the studied miRNAs in the serum. Area under the curve (AUC) for miR-21 was 0.634 (95% CI=0.479-0.790), p=0.147 with 64.7% sensitivity and 64.3% specificity. AUC for miR-29a was 0.605 (95% CI=0.420-0.790), with 64.3% sensitivity and 52.9% specificity but without statistical significance (p=0.257). The multimarker analysis of the ROC curves for both miRNAs showed AUC=0.714 (95% CI=0.569-0.860), p=0.021 with 79.4% sensitivity and 42.9% specificity. Levels of miR-29a correlated with the levels of miR-21 in the serum (with Spearman correlation coefficient 0.517, p=0.00017) and with the presence of anti-Scl70 antibodies in the serum (with Spearman correlation coefficient 0.438, p=0.010).
Our data showed a deregulation of miR-21 and miR-29a in the serum of patients with SSc which could suggests their potential role in the disease pathogenesis. Further analysis with higher number of patients is needed to confirm if these miRNAs could be used in the clinical practice as diagnostic biomarkers as well as biomarkers for both disease activity and progression.
本研究旨在评估系统性硬化症（SSc）患者血清中 miR-21 和 miR-29a 的表达水平，并确定其与临床和免疫学参数的相关性。
纳入符合 ACR/EULAR 2013 年 SSc 分类标准的 34 例患者。采用 PCR（SYBR Green 技术）检测血清中 miR-21 和 miR-29a 的表达水平。采用 2-ΔΔCt 法进行分析。14 名健康供者作为对照（HCs）。
17 例（50.0%）患者血清中 miR-21 表达上调。15 例（44.12%）SSc 患者血清中 miR-29a 表达下调。为评估研究中 miRNAs 血清表达水平的诊断准确性，进行了接收者操作特征（ROC）曲线分析。miR-21 的曲线下面积（AUC）为 0.634（95%CI=0.479-0.790），p=0.147，具有 64.7%的敏感性和 64.3%的特异性。miR-29a 的 AUC 为 0.605（95%CI=0.420-0.790），具有 64.3%的敏感性和 52.9%的特异性，但无统计学意义（p=0.257）。对两种 miRNA 的 ROC 曲线进行的多标记分析显示 AUC=0.714（95%CI=0.569-0.860），p=0.021，具有 79.4%的敏感性和 42.9%的特异性。血清中 miR-29a 的水平与 miR-21 的水平相关（Spearman 相关系数 0.517，p=0.00017），与血清中抗 Scl70 抗体的存在相关（Spearman 相关系数 0.438，p=0.010）。
本研究显示 SSc 患者血清中 miR-21 和 miR-29a 失调，这可能提示它们在疾病发病机制中具有潜在作用。需要进一步分析更多的患者以确认这些 miRNA 是否可以作为临床实践中的诊断生物标志物以及疾病活动和进展的生物标志物。
