Potentially Important MicroRNAs in Form-Deprivation Myopia Revealed by Bioinformatics Analysis of MicroRNA Profiling

This study aimed to identify differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and to explore their potential roles in form-deprivation myopia.

The microarray data set GSE58124 of miRNAs was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus, and form-deprivation myopia was induced in C57BL/6J mice over the right eye; the contralateral, left eyes were used as controls. Differential expression analysis was done using the LIMMA package. miRDB was used to predict targets for miRNAs. The target genes were put into DAVID to identify significant pathways and biological processes of miRNAs. A functionally collaborative network was constructed using Cytoscape.

In total, 24 and 20 upregulated miRNAs, respectively, were screened out in retina and whole-eye tissue. However, there was no dramatic expression change of miRNAs in sclera tissue. By taking intersections, 8 common upregulated miRNAs were obtained in both the retina and the whole-eye samples. According to miRDB, 1,805 target genes were screened out for the 8 differentially expressed miRNAs, including MAPK10 (mitogen-activated protein kinase 10). The functionally collaborative network revealed that "regulation of transcription" was significantly enriched. The pathways "Axon guidance" and "TGF-β signaling pathway" were also enriched. Importantly, miR-466h-5p and miR-466j were significantly enriched in some synaptic transmission-related biological processes.

This study identified an upregulation of 8 miRNAs, which may function by disturbing their enriched pathways or biological processes in the progression of myopia.