Title : Association of blood miR 15a miR 146a and miR 200b levels with stages of diabetic retinopathy
Abstract:
Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in DR pathogenesis, but their expression patterns across different DR stages remain unclear.
Objective: To investigate the expression levels of hsa-miR-200b-5p, hsa-miR-146a-5p, and hsa- miR-15a-5p in the blood of patients in different stages of diabetic retinopathy.
Methods: The research involved a sample size of 92 patients who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. These patients were classified into three distinct groups: 50 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), 30 patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and 12 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus without retinopathy (DM) as a control group. The extraction of total RNA from whole blood samples was followed by RT-qPCR analysis to assess miRNA expression levels.
Results: miR-15a showed significantly higher expression in PDR compared to NPDR (P<0.05), but no significant differences between NPDR vs. DM or PDR vs. DM. miR-146a expression was significantly increased in PDR compared to both NPDR and DM, with no significant difference between NPDR and DM. miR-200b expression was significantly higher in PDR compared to DM but showed no significant differences between NPDR vs. DM or PDR vs. NPDR.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that miR-15a and miR-146a are promising minimally invasive biomarkers for tracking the progression from NPDR to PDR, and distinguishing between these two stages. While elevated levels of miR-200b in PDR indicate potential utility in identifying at- risk patients. These insights may guide early therapeutic interventions and better diabetic retinopathy management.
Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy, microRNA, has-miR-200b-3p, has-miR-146a-5p, has-miR-15a- 5p, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, RT-qPCR
