Expression levels of miR-22, miR-30c, miR-145, and miR-519d and their possible associations with inflammatory markers among patients with coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death around the world. Micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) can be involved in forming of atherosclerotic plaques, inflammation, cholesterol metabolism, and other mechanisms involved in CAD development. This study aimed to evaluate the expression level of miR-22, miR-30c, miR-145, and miR-519d and their possible association with inflammatory markers among patients with CAD.

The expression level of miR-22, miR-30c, miR-145, miR-519d, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) was determined in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 46 patients with CAD and 39 healthy controls using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay.

53.8% (n = 21) and 52.2% (n = 24) of controls and cases were men, respectively; the mean age was 59.8 ± 7.4 and 57.0 ± 9.8 years, respectively. The miRNA expression pattern of each group showed significantly different expression profiles. In the CAD patients group, miR-22, miR-30c, and miR-145 were down-regulated compared to the control group. On the opposite, miR-519d was up-regulated in patients with CAD compared to the control group. Our results also showed that the expression levels of IL-6 and TGF-β were up-regulated among patients with CAD compared to the control group. In addition, the expression of miR-145 and miR-519d had a significantly negative and positive correlation with TGF-β and IL-6, respectively.

The change in expression levels of miR-22, miR-30c, miR-145, and miR-519d in PBMCs of patients with CAD could be considered as a potential biomarker for CAD.