Implication of peripheral blood miRNA-124 in predicting acute myocardial infarction

This study aimed to determine the expression of miR-124 in the patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and elucidated the role of miR-124 on early diagnosis of AMI.

A total of 90 AMI patients were recruited, along with 45 healthy individuals as the control group. Blood samples were collected at different time points (0 h at admission, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h of disease onset). Real-time PCR was used to test miRNA-124 level. ELISA was used to test serum troponin (cTnI) and creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) levels. The correlation between miRNA-124, cTnI and CK-MB was analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to analyze sensitivity and specificity of AMI.

MiRNA-124 expression in experimental group was significantly elevated in peripheral blood of AMI patients. It can reach the peak at 6h after onset. AMI patients had significantly elevated cTnI and CK-MB expression level (p<0.05 compared to control group). The expression of miRNA-124 reached the peak earlier than cTnI and CK-MB. miRNA-124 was positively correlated with cTnI and CK-MB (p<0.05). The area under the curve of ROC of miRNA-124 was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.815-0.937), with 52% sensitivity and 91% specificity.

AMI patients presented a significantly elevated level of miRNA-124 in peripheral blood. Our data suggested that miR-124 contributed to an earlier detection than other diagnostic markers for AMI. Therefore, peripheral miRNA-124 can serve as a novel biological marker for early diagnosis of AMI.