Identification of biomarkers associated with metabolic cardiovascular disease using mRNA-SNP-miRNA regulatory network...

CVD is the leading cause of death in T2DM patients. However, few biomarkers have been identified to detect and diagnose CVD in the early stage of T2DM. The aim of our study was to identify the important mRNAs, micro (mi)RNAs and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) that are associated with metabolic cardiovascular disease.

Expression profiles and GWAS data were obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. MiRNA-sequencing was conducted by Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform in T2DM patients and T2DM with CVD patients. EQTL analysis and gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were conducted. MRNA-miRNA co-expression network and mRNA-SNP-miRNA interaction network were established and visualized by Cytoscape 3.7.2.

In our study, we identified 56 genes and 16 miRNAs that were significantly differentially expressed. KEGG analyses results indicated that B cell receptor signaling pathway and hematopoietic cell lineage were included in the biological functions of differentially expressed genes. MRNA-miRNA co-expression network and mRNA-SNP-miRNA interaction network illustrated that let-7i-5p, RASGRP3, KRT1 and CEP41 may be potential biomarkers for the early detection and diagnosis of CVD in T2DM patients.

Our results suggested that downregulated let-7i-5p, and upregulated RASGRP3, KRT1 and CEP41 may play crucial roles in molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation and development of CVD in T2DM patients.