Masoumi-Ardakani Yaser, Eghbalian Mostafa, Fallah Hossein, Jafari Alireza, Shahouzehi Beydolah
Physiology Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Neuromuscular Rehabilitation Research Centre, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
BMC Endocr Disord. 2025 Jan 30;25(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s12902-025-01849-9.
Obesity and atherosclerosis are significant metabolic diseases characterized by disrupted lipid metabolism. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, conserved, non-coding RNA sequences consisting of approximately 22 nucleotides, playing crucial roles in biological and pathological functions. Among these, miR-33a/b is particularly associated with metabolic diseases, notably obesity and atherosclerosis. In this pilot case-control study, 45 subjects were examined, and serum miR-33b levels were measured in three groups: a control group, hypercholesterolemic (HC) subjects without obesity (HC group), and obese subjects without hypercholesterolemia (obese group). Serum miR-33b levels were determined using the real-time PCR method. The expression of miR-33b was significantly higher in the HC and obese groups compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The Body mass index (BMI) in the obese group was significantly higher than in the control and HC groups (p < 0.001). Additionally, serum total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels were higher in the HC group compared to both the control and obese groups. Our study demonstrated a correlation between serum miR-33b levels and HC and obesity. Finally, the ROC analysis demonstrated that miR-33b had an AUC of 0.74 for identifying hypercholesterolemia and an AUC of 0.76 for identifying obesity, indicating its acceptable diagnostic value alongside traditional markers. Therefore, serum miR-33b levels can be considered as a potential biomarker for obesity and hypercholesterolemia, but these finding are preliminary and further investigation is necessary in larger samples to confirm these associations.
肥胖和动脉粥样硬化是显著的代谢性疾病，其特征为脂质代谢紊乱。微小RNA（miRNA）是由约22个核苷酸组成的小型、保守的非编码RNA序列，在生物学和病理功能中发挥着关键作用。其中，miR-33a/b与代谢性疾病尤其相关，特别是肥胖和动脉粥样硬化。在这项初步病例对照研究中，对45名受试者进行了检查，并在三组中测量了血清miR-33b水平：对照组、无肥胖的高胆固醇血症（HC）受试者（HC组）和无高胆固醇血症的肥胖受试者（肥胖组）。使用实时PCR方法测定血清miR-33b水平。与对照组相比，HC组和肥胖组中miR-33b的表达显著更高（p < 0.001）。肥胖组的体重指数（BMI）显著高于对照组和HC组（p < 0.001）。此外，HC组的血清总胆固醇（TC）和高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-c）水平高于对照组和肥胖组。我们的研究表明血清miR-33b水平与HC和肥胖之间存在关联。最后，受试者工作特征（ROC）分析表明，miR-33b识别高胆固醇血症的曲线下面积（AUC）为0.74，识别肥胖的AUC为0.76，表明其与传统标志物相比具有可接受的诊断价值。因此，血清miR-33b水平可被视为肥胖和高胆固醇血症的潜在生物标志物，但这些发现是初步的，需要在更大样本中进行进一步研究以证实这些关联。
