Circulating microRNAs as potential biomarkers for nephrotic syndrome

Recent studies have shown that serum microRNAs have specific expression patterns in some diseases, indicating the potential of using microRNAs to aid diagnosis. This study estimated the levels of microRNAs in patients with nephrotic syndrome compared with healthy controls.

In this study, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to explore whether there were different expression levels of miR-181a, miR-483-5p, and miR-557 in the serum of patients with nephrotic syndrome subtypes and healthy controls. We measured the three microRNAs in 40 patients with nephrotic syndrome and 16 healthy controls.

The circulating levels of miR-483-5p and miR-557 were not significantly upregulated or downregulated, whereas miR-181a was significantly upregulated in patients with nephrotic syndrome as compared with healthy controls.

We found that circulating miR-181a had a significantly different expression and could be an effective means to aid diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome. This microRNA is an attractive candidate as a biomarker for nephrotic syndrome.