Circulating microRNA expression profile: a novel potential predictor for chronic nervous lesions

Yongming Xu,  Xin Zhang,  Shaofeng Pu,  Junzhen Wu,  Yingying Lv and  Dongping Du

Pain Management Center and Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200233, China

The mechanisms of chronic neuropathic pain are not clear. Serum microRNAs (miRNAs) might show a special feature for chronicnervouslesions. However, little is known about the changes in circulating miRNAs for the neuropathic pain. Therefore, changes in the circulating miRNAs expressionprofile for the neuropathic pain were investigated. Serum was collected from rats before and after spinal nerve ligation (SNL) surgery, and a microarray analysis was performed to determine the changes in miRNA expressionprofile. The expression of inflammatory cytokines in serum from the same individuals, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), was also measured. The results showed that the expression levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and MCP-1 were significantly elevated in SNL rats which were significantly correlated with pain levels. Nine miRNAs with significantly different expression levels before and after SNL surgery were identified by microarray analysis, which were further validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses. Compared with naive rats without SNL surgery, the expression of five miRNAs (hsa-miR-221, hsa-miR-34c, hsa-miR-21, hsa-miR-30a-5p, and hsa-miR-206) in the serum of rats after SNL surgery was decreased and four miRNAs (hsa-miR-31-5p, hsa-miR-133b, hsa-miR-22, and hsa-miRPlus-A1087) were increased, suggesting that miRNA changes may involve in the regulation of neuropathic pain. TargetScan was used to predict mRNA targets for these miRNAs, and the results showed that the transcripts with multiple predicted target sites belonged to neurologically important pathways. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that several target genes are related to the activation of cell signaling associated with nervouslesions. In this study, the changes to miRNA profiles in serum under neuropathic pain conditions were shown for the first time, suggesting that circulating miRNAs profile in serum is a potentialpredictor for neuropathic pain.

图例: 脊神经结扎对血清miRNA的影响

Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai). 2014 Nov;46(11):942-9. doi: 10.1093/abbs/gmu090

全文: http://abbs.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/11/942.full