Serum miR-599 Serves as a Biomarker for Ischemic Stroke Patients

The current study aims to investigate the expression of miR-599 in serum of patients with ischemic stroke and its correlation with high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9).

The expression level of miR-24 in serum was detected by real-time PCR, and the expression levels of hs-CRP and MMP-9 were detected by ELISA. Partial correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation be-tween the expression of miR-24 in serum and hs-CRP and MMP-9. ROC analysis was carried out to evaluate the potential diagnostic value.

Our data showed that the expression levels of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 in serum of the patients were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). Partial correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the expression of miR-599 and hs-CRP and MMP-9 (r = 0.718, p = 0.000; r = 0.658, p = 0.000; r = 0.878, p = 0.000). Meanwhile, serum levels of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 in patients with severe neurological deficit were significantly higher than those in patients with moderate and mild neurological deficit (p < 0.05). Moreover, the expression levels of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 in serum of patients with dif-ferent degrees of neurological impairment have different correlations. More importantly, ROC analysis demon-strated that combined use of miR-599, hs-CRP, and MMP-9 demonstrated higher diagnostic value for stroke pa-tients.

Serum miR-599 may be used as a molecular marker in the diagnosis of ischemic stroke and may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of ischemic stroke in cooperation with hs-CRP and MMP-9.