Expression of plasma microRNA in patients with acromegaly

BACKGROUND: microRNA is a class of small non-coding RNA molecules involved in posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. MicroRNAs are detectable in blood in stable concentrations, which makes them promising biomarkers for various diseases.

AIM: to assess plasma microRNA expression in patients with active acromegaly compared with healthy controls.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: single-center, case-control study: assessment of plasma microRNA in patients with acromegaly compared with healthy controls. Fasting blood samples were drawn and centrifuged at +5^°С temperature and 3000 rpm for 20 minutes, then aliquoted and frozen at –80°C until further analysis. MicroRNA extraction and library preparation was done according to manufacturer’s instructions. Expression analysis was performed on NextSeq sequencer. Bioinformatic analysis using atropos (adapted deletion), STAR (aligning), FastQC (quality control), seqbuster/seqcluster/miRge2 (microRNA annotation, isomiR and new microRNA search, expression analysis). Primary endpoint of the study – differential expression of plasma microRNA in patients with acromegaly compared with healthy controls.

RESULTS: we included 12 patients with acromegaly – age 33.1 [20; 47], BMI 29.3 kg/m² [24.0; 39.6], IGF-1 686.1 ng/mL [405.9; 1186.0] and 12 healthy subjects – age 36.2 [26; 44], BMI 26.7 kg/m² [19.5; 42.5], IGF-1 210.4 ng/mL [89.76; 281.90]; gender ratio for both groups – 4 males, 8 females. The groups did not differ in gender (p=0.666), age (p=0.551) and BMI (p=0.378). We found decreased expression of four microRNAs in patients with acromegaly: miR-4446-3p –1.317 (p=0.001), miR-215-5p –3.040 (p=0.005), miR-342-5p –1.875 (p=0.013) and miR-191-5p –0.549 (p=0.039). However, none of these changes were statistically significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons (q >0.1).

CONCLUSION: we found four microRNAs, which could potentially be downregulated in plasma of patients with acromegaly. The result need to be validated using different measurement method with larger sample size.

acromegaly, pituitary adenoma, microRNA, next-generation sequencing, biomarkers

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